Day 50

We reached thick pack today, ice breaking for most of the day.  The ship cannot break through if it looks completely covered, we need to go from gap to gap because we need to be able to push the ice into the gaps. If the ice is particularly thick and the ship slows dramatically with the chance of stopping completely, the aim is to follow the cracks that appear until you can get to open water again.  If there is a gap smaller than the beam of the ship then you aim to cut off one of the edges as opposed to going for the gap because there is a lot of pressure either side so if the ship goes into the gap it will get stuck, if you cut the ice off the edge, it gets pushed into the gap instead.

It is easy to get disorientated in the ice, following leads for the sake of following leads then suddenly your miles off track or pointing back the way you came. Its a balancing act between getting through to the open water parts and staying close to the track line. Icebergs are good to use as heading markers, if there are none about then its radar/ecdis/compass to keep you close to track.

The ship can break ice up to 4 meters thick, it achieves this by riding up on top of the ice then using the weight of the ship to break it and displace it either side.

Position @ midnight 68° 18’S    004° 28’W