3YØI to be continued!

3YØI Press Release #6
March 28, 2019 @ 21:50 UTC

3YØI TO BE CONTINUED!

This time, good news coming from MV Atlantic Tuna. In a satellite conversation with Dom 3Z9DX, I’ve learnt important information on 3YØI follow up.

The seas are calm now, ironically almost flat. After taking a “u-turn”, the vessel continues sailing back to Cape Town. They sail as fast as ~10 knots, which means they could reach South Africa’s coast in approx. 4 days.

Dom unveiled some more details on the storm which forced the Team to go back. The vessels anemometer cracked and stopped operating and its last recorded speed reached 83kn/h. But once other instruments have been checked, they discovered a yet surprising fact. Actually, the wind reached a speed of 170km/h (~92kn or 106mil/h) and that means they faced a hurricane of Category 2.

Once they reach Cape Town and go through a detailed technical inspection of the vessel, there will be a special official statement issued to the ham radio community by the captain of MV Atlantic Tuna with further information on:

a detailed explanation of the situation encountered at South Atlantic nearby Bouvet Island and reasons for the decisions taken,
procedures applied during the recent issues encountered near Bouvet Island,
reported damages of the vessel and their results,
information how the team coped with the extreme situation encountered at the vessel,
estimation of necessary repairs’ deadlines.

Once all the above information is received and analyzed, the 3YØI Team Leader, Dom 3Z9DX, will decide when and how the DXpedition will take place again. Repeat: we’re definitely talking about rescheduling the expedition to the nearest possible and reliable term, not aborting or suspending our plans.

Sailing calmer waters doesn’t mean the Team and the Tuna’s Crew get bored. Earlier today, they all went through a fire-fighting drill. They could verify skills gained during the professional course we all took in Cape Town last December. A very good lesson has been learnt, and yet a new at-the-sea experience gained!

They also managed to install a provisory /mm antenna and they have been quite active on 17 and 20m bands with good signals across Europe, South and North America and… Hawaii (59+20!). That all means that despite the current solar minimum, a good propagation is still there. Listen to a sample of Dom’s QSOs recorded today on 2the 0m band:

And now imagine a strength of potential signals sent out from neighbouring Bouvet Island today with much better antennas and PAs!

The SPOT tracker is back online and will update Tuna’s current location at least once a day. You can track the vessel here.

Wish to follow the story of one of the most adventurous and fascinating ham radio expedition in history? Stay tuned (Tuna’ed? ;-)) for fresh news coming soon once the Team gets closer to South Africa’s coastline. And don’t forget to subscribe to our social media feeds listed below. Ahoy!

73 de Stan SP8S
The 3YØI Press Officer