Do not let my lack of writing on Tuesday fool you. I skipped a day because I have been very busy, not because a visit by the Queen of Spades. The game is over, so you can figure who won. That is right, more by luck and chance than to stealth, I was the last one standing with the Queen of Spades on my hand! The secret to survival was working all the time that I was awake. People fell like flies until two of us remained. I knew who to challenge before he found me. I can now go to the galley and restroom without having to look over my shoulder.
Let me tell you what have I been up to today. Besides answering the large number of questions from Mr. Woods students (thanks all again for writing), I spent a few hours on deck as a winch operator helping out preparing the more than 4000meters of cable for the mooring that we will hopefully deploy on Saturday. That was a lot of fun!
I am helping out with the winch spooling the 4 km of cable for the mooring we will deploy on Saturday.
The cable came in rolls of 500 m to 1000 m, so we had to link them and spool them into the winch drum. Here are a couple of cable segments that we still need to add to the long cable.
The cables for the mooring come in 500m to 1000m rolls that we need to link and spool together
Jim Ryder is the master when it comes to moorings; ha has outstanding skills when dealing with moorings, as we could see during the mooring recoveries. He told me when to do what with the winch. Here is a picture of him connecting the rope on the winchdrum to the black cable at the beginning of the process.
Jim Ryder connecting the rope on the winch drum to the mooring cable
I just went out right now to take a picture of the finished result, as I forgot to take one yesterday. The drum looks different now that it has the back cable, but also with the snow and sleet that started to fall half an hour ago. This picture shows the drum from the other side.
winch drum with the more than 4000 m of cable
I am happy we did the work yesterday, when it as foggy but overall nice. Here is how the winch controls look like today.
I am glad we did the work yesterday and not today, when it is sleeting.
The fun will continue once Jim begins to attach the instruments and buoys to the cable. Stay tuned!