Hi All,
I read the Captain's letter with great interest. It certainly appears the
group was subjected to some extremely severe conditions. I get the
impression the Captain is almost apologizing, and I have to wonder why,
unless they were possibly a bit too aggressive about certain things.
In any event, this seems to have been "the DXpedition from hell"! Lots of
problems, several delays, and an enormous amount of energy being expended
just to operate from an island that apparently isn't fit for inhabitation!
Apparently the stars have to line up just right for them to even go
ashore!!! I really enjoy chasing DX, and working a lot of these DXpeditions
to exotic places, but some places seem to be TOO exotic (as in dangerous!)
in my view! I still shake my head a bit when I look at pictures from that
last Kingman Reef DXpedition, where they operated from a pile of rocks!!
I've been amazed at how involved this operation has been. As an example,
take a look below at a posting the group made back in January:
"Update Jan,2: WE’RE AWARE WE START TO FACE A SITUATION THE MOST SUITABLE
AND SAFE WEATHER PERMITTING SEASON TO REACH BOUVET ISLAND IS ABOUT TO SLIP
AWAY. NEVERTHELESS, WE’RE IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE THE LAST DAYS OF OCTOBER,
TRYING SO HARD, SACRIFICING OUR FAMILY TIME, JOBS, MONEY AND OTHER RESOURCES
TO MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN FOR YOU, DXERS."
Apparently some, or all, of them have been down in South Africa for nearly 6
months!! That's incredible! All that "sacrificing" they refer to above
seems like a hell of a lot to pay for us to get some contacts with Bouvet.
Is is really worth it?? They are actually putting themselves at great risk,
and I have to question the justification for doing so. They have even had
to take "cold water rescue training", which sounds terribly dangerous.
I'm no meteorologist, but I'm assuming the time has passed for any further
attempt this year. It's spring here, so it's fall there, and the WX can
only get worse I assume. They have said it is postponed, and not cancelled,
but they haven't indicated if that means postponed until next season. I
think I hope so.
Dave W7AQK
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