Tuesday, February 07, 2006
posted 2/07/2006 10:25:00 PM UTC+12, McMurdo Local Time
posted 2/07/2006 10:25:00 PM UTC+12, McMurdo Local Time
What could go wrong?
There have been some more delays with the cargo vessel offload that are going to push the tanker schedule back another day or two. Some weather related stuff (wind,) some mechanical stuff (crane broke,) and maybe a little user malfunction thrown in for good measure. At any rate, it's looking like we might get tanker offload started Wednesday evening if we're lucky, which puts us getting done with it Saturday night under optimal conditions. With the way things down here have been going recently, my gut feeling is that things won't go quite that smoothly and we'll be working all weekend...
And, if we're working all weekend (or into next week,) the odds that I'll end up PM pits for week #6 (double checked, this is #5) aren't too bad!
But wait! There's more! Completely out of the blue, this big iceberg named C16 started moving on Jan 28 and over the last week has swung around and moved through a relatively tight gap between some islands to nearly block off the open end of the shipping channel! Don't have any pictures handy to post, but have seen some and it's pretty unbelievable. This berg just sat still for quite a while before executed a very precise, unlikely, and potentially incredibly inconvenient little dance over to it's current position over just a few days. Will C16 block off the channel? If it does, will it do it after the ships are out of here? Interesting stuff! Think I'm going to wait a bit on posting the potentially dire consequences for dramatic effect, and to see what happens over the next couple days.
On a lighter note, we hit the bottom of our AN8 supply in town today, a little bit earlier than expected, but only by a couple thousand gallons. So, all our usable AN8 is now in the tanks out at Willy and Pegasus. We've been shuttling fuel back from Pegasus to Willy in the tanker sleds, and should have just enough AN8 to scrape by until tanker offload is done if cargo vessel offload goes well and if we can get the tanker offloaded smoothly and if the flights to pole take relatively light loads over the next several days. It's a major pain (and a kind of sketchy process) to send fuel out to Willy when we're offloading the tanker because of how the town fuel system is setup, but that's an option that I'm sure will be considered. Otherwise the choice is between sending out some JP5 to Willy or running the risk of the airfield going dry. Neither of the three options are pretty!
So, that's all I've got for tonight!
And, if we're working all weekend (or into next week,) the odds that I'll end up PM pits for week #6 (double checked, this is #5) aren't too bad!
But wait! There's more! Completely out of the blue, this big iceberg named C16 started moving on Jan 28 and over the last week has swung around and moved through a relatively tight gap between some islands to nearly block off the open end of the shipping channel! Don't have any pictures handy to post, but have seen some and it's pretty unbelievable. This berg just sat still for quite a while before executed a very precise, unlikely, and potentially incredibly inconvenient little dance over to it's current position over just a few days. Will C16 block off the channel? If it does, will it do it after the ships are out of here? Interesting stuff! Think I'm going to wait a bit on posting the potentially dire consequences for dramatic effect, and to see what happens over the next couple days.
On a lighter note, we hit the bottom of our AN8 supply in town today, a little bit earlier than expected, but only by a couple thousand gallons. So, all our usable AN8 is now in the tanks out at Willy and Pegasus. We've been shuttling fuel back from Pegasus to Willy in the tanker sleds, and should have just enough AN8 to scrape by until tanker offload is done if cargo vessel offload goes well and if we can get the tanker offloaded smoothly and if the flights to pole take relatively light loads over the next several days. It's a major pain (and a kind of sketchy process) to send fuel out to Willy when we're offloading the tanker because of how the town fuel system is setup, but that's an option that I'm sure will be considered. Otherwise the choice is between sending out some JP5 to Willy or running the risk of the airfield going dry. Neither of the three options are pretty!
So, that's all I've got for tonight!
