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Archive of September 17th, 2007
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Red star indicates location of R/V Kilo Moana.
Click on images for full sized versions. |
Teacher at Sea log for Monday September 17, 2007
At 6 a.m. the crew began rotating the drum and winching in the Jason 2. It has been down in the water for 48 hours. By 8:15am we could see the yellow top of the Jason 2 above the water perhaps 80 meters behind the boat. All the preparations were in place. The crew had assembled long poles with hooks at one end, eyebolts were installed along the deck, and straps with locking mechanisms to hold the Medea to the deck were attached to the eyebolts. Everyone had on life vests and hard hats; some of the crew had protective gloves on. Once again Phil dropped little pieces of rope into the ocean to see the surface currents.
The A frame is the huge crane that arches over the back deck. The A frame had the Medea on a cable attached to it and it was used to lift the Medea out of the water. A second cable was attached to the Medea, and then the A frame was tipped out again over the water and then they raised the Medea as high as the deck. Next, the crane was pivoted over the deck and set the Medea ever so gently on the deck. Immediately one of the crew attached a ground wire to the frame. Finally, they began tying the Medea down to the deck. I can see now why the crew likes working on this catamaran boat. The design makes it pretty easy to get a cable onto the Medea without banging the side of the ship.
Then the process of bringing the Jason 2 aboard began. The cable from the Medea to the Jason 2 was attached to a smaller crane and that crane was stretched over the water. The Jason 2 began to sway as it came out of the water, and all eyes were on the baskets with our precious rock collection. Soon the tire and metal frame apparatus was cinched down onto the top of Jason 2, and the crew had better control of the sway. At last, Jason 2 was lifted over the rope handrails and placed on the deck.
Garrett and Mike were smiling and anxious to start looking at the rocks. They looked like kids on Christmas morning. They called for Lisa to bring the camera and the collection bags. To help keep the rocks in order, they have a clipboard with color photographs of each rock that was taken as it was collected under the sea. They also have a map of the baskets with simple sketches of each rock that was collected, and where it went in the baskets. Carefully, they remove each rock that is easily recognizable, take another photograph and place it in a giant plastic zipper bag. These rocks will be rinsed and photographed again, and some rocks will be sawed in half later today so we can have a look inside. The rocks that will be removed last are those that are harder to recognize from the pictures Jason 2 took. The team will work together to assure they have accurate recognition of where the rock was collected. If there is any doubt whatsoever the rock will not be used for science.
In the meantime we have 12 hours of rest before the Jason 2 gets dropped back into the water. This is time to fix anything on the Jason 2 that was malfunctioning and for the Jason Crew to get a decent rest. |
