Delays

Ship has been delayed in Denmark, joining date will be 5th/6th November. Preliminary itinerary;

https://secure.antarctica.ac.uk/south/reports/itinerary.ship.php?numTravelTypeID=4

Preparations

In preparation for my trip on board, I've had to have a substantial medical including full blood work to be done. My teeth had to be checked and sorted, the only dentist care down there is a GP who has done a 3 day dentistry course so I'm glad to be sorted.

I've been re reading seamanship and navigation books to get the head back into focus after almost 2 months ashore.

I'm currently in the process of packing but it is a strange thing to pack for. I'm going away for 6 months but not on holiday. I will have some downtime and the chance to do a bit of exercise so I need casual clothes and phys kit. Along with uniform, overalls, work gear, toiletries I'm packing an external hard drive with 400 movies, kindle with a couple of hundred books, including journal papers for my dissertation, ipod and ipod dock. This is my 'bubble' kit, when times get tough I can disappear into a movie with headphones on or get some tunes on. I know whatever I pack will be too much and will probably not do as much reading as I would like. First on the list is Shackleton's South.

Overview of trip

Date set

Well the date has been confirmed, I join the ship on 1/11/11 in Immingham (near Hull). The ship is the RRS Ernest Shackleton ( as seen in photo above). It is primarily the logisitcs ship for the BAS but is also involved in scientific research..
Length 80m
Beam 17m
Draught 6.15m
Ice Class DNV ICE-05
Installed power: 2 x Bergen Diesel BRM 6 each 2550 kW
Propulsion: Thrusters : 816 Hp x 3 + 1088 Hp x 1 + 1 Azimuth 1088 Hp
Speed: 11 kn (20 km/h), max: 14 kn (26 km/h)
Range: 40,000 nmi (74,000 km)
Endurance: 130 days
Complement: 72 including crew


The Trip will be from Immingham- Portsmouth- Madeira- Cape Town- Various Antarctic stations- Port Stanley- Portsmouth.


Aproximately 6 months duration