Hey All,
In just a few hours our crew is setting sail for Challenger’s recovery. The last of our team will be touching down on the island shortly where they will then board the vessel and sail out to the glider. Since we last updated, we have moved the waypoint to the south towards our rendezvous point.
There is a prime window tomorrow that we are aiming to run our operation. It is projected to be benevolent conditions for recovery with the waves are around 1-2m, calm winds, and minimal shipping traffic. Looking at the image below provided by Antonio, there is actually a band of calm conditions that runs straight through the Azores providing us with near perfect conditions for our operation.
The waves also seem to follow a similar pattern to the wind as we find ourselves in a corridor with less favorable conditions to both the north and south yet smooth sailing in the vicinity of the Azores.
After departing early tomorrow morning from the port of Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel, they will head around the east of the island to rendezvous with Challenger just to the North. As of this evening, Challenger is about 66km from port (~3 hr boat trip). Once Challenger is brought on board the ship, he will return to the facilities back in Ponta Delgada where we hope the problem causing the leak detect to be triggered will be easily diagnosed and be an easy fix. If this is the case, we hope to redeploy Challenger friday and send him on his way towards the Canaries and La Gomera. If this is not the case, parts will be shipped over and Challenger will be put on hiatus until we are confident he is ready to continue his journey.
We wish our team the best of luck tomorrow and Force Wind Sea & Honor to all!
Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos, Oliver Ho & Nilsen Strandskov