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Author Topic: NIKU VII  (Read 274405 times)

Bruce Thomas

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #75 on: July 12, 2012, 07:06:52 AM »

It's now 1300 UTC, 0900 EDT, and (I think) 0300 ship's time.  In my mind's eye this morning, I see Ka'imikai-o-Kanaloa beginning to glide in the dark, parallel to the Nutiran shore, scanning the reef slope with sonar.  But in my mind's nose last night, as I drifted off to sleep, I was there in spirit, leaning on the rail of K-o-K looking toward where McKean should be, 10 miles off, and sniffing its fertile presence.

In honor of this day's achievement of Ric and Niku VII reaching the destination, I am compelled to share my favorite posting from 10 years ago, documenting Ric's recollection of TIGHAR's 1989 visit to McKean.  Even the imagery of troops in an LST approaching their target destination, which Pat evoked in last night's Niku VII progress posting, is echoed in this story. 

Enjoy!

Quote
Date:         Fri, 1 Mar 2002 13:33:26 EST
From:         Tom King
Subject:      Re: quicksand

Ric, I really think you have to tell them about McKean....
***************************************************************************
From Ric

Ahh McKean ... I can smell it now.
1989.  We had gone ashore over the reef (no landing channel at McKean Island)
riding the surf and slamming onto the beach like we were the 2nd Marine
Division.  We immediately came under heavy automatic droppings fire from the
one million (count 'em) seabirds that are the island's only inhabitants.

We divided our forces to recon the island and see if there was any indication
of airplane wreckage.  While the main group headed off for the far end, I set
off alone (sheer genius) to investigate the "lagoon" which is really just
a huge shin-deep pool with a bottom composed primarily of guano - Latin name:
Bird Shit.  Smithsonian ornithologists who had been there had assured me that
the lagoon was only about 18 inches deep.  True enough, but what they failed
to mention and perhaps had been smart enough to avoid finding out for
themselves, was that the bottom is made up of a crust of guano beneath which
is a seemingly bottomless pit of the most disgusting ooze you can imagine.

I was a good hundred yards out into the pool when the crust let go.  I
suddenly found myself up to my thighs in historic avian manure and every
movement I made prompted further descent.  At this point I said to myself,
"Self, you have a problem."  For lack of a better idea I got on the radio and
called the rest of the team.
"Hey guys, I'm sinking in the guano and I can't get out."
"What do you expect us to do about it?  We're on the other side of the
island."
"I guess I just wanted to let you know where to search for the body."
"Okay, good luck."
"Thanks."

By now I'm up to my crotch.  The phrase "What a way to go" does not begin to
express my disappointment at the prospect of continued sinking.  Time to get
creative.  Sitting or laying down would distribute my weight over a wider
area but if my butt broke through I'd be just that much closer to the unthinkable. 
I decided to compromise.  I leaned way forward and supported
some of my weight on my hands and gave a highly motivated heave on one leg.
Sssssssmuck! Out it came.   Now supporting my weight on two hands and one
knee I hauled the other leg out and crawled to what seemed like a firmer
spot.  There I was able to stand up and make my way to the lagoon shore like
a guy walking on eggshells.

When I eventually caught up with the team they were (I told myself) happy to
see me but insisted that I keep my distance.  They said I smelled bad.  I
recounted my adventure and then asked Russ Matthews, our video cameraman, to
come with me.
"Where we going?"
"Back to the lagoon."
"Are you CRAZY?  You just said that you damned near died back there, and now
you want to go BACK?"
"Yeah, we need to document what that lagoon is like, but it's too dangerous
to do alone."
"Swell."

Russ is a stout-hearted fellow and we succeeded in getting the documentation
we needed and by very judicious selection of where we walked we only broke
through a couple times and were able to help each other get unstuck.

However, I can tell you that if there is airplane wreckage in the bottom of
that lagoon, as far as I'm concerned, it can friggin' STAY there.

LTM,
Ric
LTM,

Bruce
TIGHAR #3123R
 
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Tom Swearengen

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #76 on: July 12, 2012, 07:43:00 AM »

Bruce, my dream was alittle different. leaning over the rail, looking into the clear blue water as KOK glided slowly, I look down and see-----a wing!!

Then my alarm went off----anothor hot day in south carolina
Tom Swearengen TIGHAR # 3297
 
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richie conroy

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #77 on: July 12, 2012, 03:08:47 PM »

will they have started work there now ?
We are an echo of the past


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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #78 on: July 12, 2012, 03:33:26 PM »

will they have started work there now ?

From the dailies.  I've inserted local times in bold:

They’re within 100 miles of Nikumaroro. Current ETA, 1:30 a.m. local time [July 12].

When they arrive they will immediately start working the primary search area with the Multi-Beam to map the ocean bottom. Ric will be on the bridge to give local knowledge to the Captain – what is where, what that shadow is, and so on. There will be very little moon (last quarter) and they will be relying heavily on radar and that local knowledge to work the edge.
That will take about two hours;
[3:30 AM]

 then they will do a perimeter sweep of the island to get a general sonar map, arriving back at the primary area at daybreak.
[say, 6:00 AM]

The AUV will go in the water for a four hour test in the search area.
[10:00 AM]

 When it returns for download and to have new programming and batteries installed, the ROV will go in for a two hour test run.
[noon]

 Then the AUV will go back down for the first “real” run of the expedition, eight hours of data collection.
[8:00 PM]

== end excerpt from the dailies ==

I am writing this at 5:30 PM EDT.
If TIGHAR Niku Time (TNT) is GMT -11, that makes it 10:30 AM out there now (on July 12, because they are ignoring the date line).



LTM,

           Marty
           TIGHAR #2359A
 
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Randy Conrad

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #79 on: July 12, 2012, 03:37:33 PM »

So what you're saying Martin is they won't reach the island until late tonight Kansas time?
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richie conroy

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #80 on: July 12, 2012, 03:48:52 PM »

so is Niku -16 hours behind uk ?
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Bruce Thomas

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #81 on: July 12, 2012, 04:18:30 PM »

So what you're saying Martin is they won't reach the island until late tonight Kansas time?

No, they were estimating they would get there roughly 9-10 hours ago.  They should be having lunch about now, looking out at Niku's western shore.  See my post upstream in this thread.
LTM,

Bruce
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Gary LaPook

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #82 on: July 12, 2012, 04:48:31 PM »

so is Niku -16 hours behind uk ?
10 hours behind GMT so 11 hours behind British Summer Time.

gl
« Last Edit: July 12, 2012, 10:51:57 PM by Gary LaPook »
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John Hart

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #83 on: July 12, 2012, 04:52:27 PM »

Perhaps I can help everyone visualize this. I am not condescending.  This is no kidding how a dumb fighter pilot figures it out.

Grab or visualize a globe with the sun shining on half and the rest is dark. Chris' folks grabbed the Prime Meridian as we all know where the center of the universe is. Well it is the best bitters and single malt scotches. So they got the zero but that means the 180 is on the other side. That is 12 hours (half the globe) away.

Now picture that sunlight moving around the world from Chris' sunrise. Remember the sun is always pushing today away from it. So as midnight approaches the 180 line it is pushing today into tomorrow. From the dateline backwards it is still today. So even though the sunrises at the dateline at the same time, one foot east of it it is rising today and one foot west it is rising tomorrow.

Now since Chris' folks grabbed the zero line they get to set GMT, UTC, as their clock (disregard daylight savings as it confuses the issue). So noon at Chris' house is midnight at the dateline of the new day (tomorrow). Some islands have moved the dateline so they get to be first to have a New Years party.

Now make it easy on yourself. You are on a computer so go try to change the time on the bottom right. It will let you select time zone. Your time zone will tell you what your UTC is plus or minus. US EDT is currently UTC, or GMT,minus 5 hours. Hawaii is minus 10 and the dateline is UTC minus 12. Now KOK is on W side of dateline so it is Friday for them. But if they choose to observe today for most of us that does not change their UTC from 12 hours from Chris. It is 18:45 EDT as I write this. That's 23:45 UTC at Chris' house and 11:45 UTC at Niku.  It is actually Friday morning but they are staying with us in a little bubble of today extending into tomorrow. Hope that helps. JB
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Anthony Allen Roach

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #84 on: July 12, 2012, 05:01:12 PM »

As I post this, it is 4:00 p.m. on July 12, 2012, in California.  It's 11:00 p.m. GMT, London is 12:00 a.m.  It's 7:00 p.m. on the East coast of the United States.  It is 1:00 p.m. in Honolulu, Hawaii, on July 12th. It's 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 13th in Auckland, New Zealand and 9:00 a.m. in Sydney on Friday the 13th.  Nikumaroro is on the other side of the International Dateline, so it is Noon Friday for them locally.  I think they are posting local times and GMT, and using the days of the week and dates for the U.S. side of the International Date Line.  I hope this irons this out.
"Six the Hard Way."
 
« Last Edit: July 12, 2012, 07:25:37 PM by Bob Lanz »
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richie conroy

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #85 on: July 12, 2012, 05:05:56 PM »

so is Niku -16 hours behind uk ?
11 hours behind GMT so 12 hours behind British Summer Time.

gl

so at present they are preparing, the AUV for it's second two hour stint as we speak
We are an echo of the past


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John Ousterhout

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #86 on: July 12, 2012, 05:16:45 PM »

  I see that actual donations are lagging behind the pledges.  This seemed like a good time to send TIGHAR my pledged $200, and buy a NIKU-VII shirt.  I know what I'd do if I were you...

Cheers,
JohnO
 
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Anthony Allen Roach

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #87 on: July 12, 2012, 06:01:34 PM »

I blew the time for London.  "Its 11:00 p.m. on July 12th in London, which is on GMT. "  At the time I posted, it was 11:00 p.m. GMT, but midnight in London.  Apparently they've adopted a form of daylight savings time that takes them away from GMT half of the year.  I was hoping because they were British, they would be doing it better than the Americans. ;)  No offense meant to the people who drive on the left side of the road.
"Six the Hard Way."
 
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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #88 on: July 12, 2012, 06:05:52 PM »

I think they are posting local times and GMT ...

They are supposed to start that with today's update.

Quote
, and using the days of the week and dates for the U.S. side of the International Date Line.

Yes.  From the dailies:

"Date links refer to U.S. days; Nikumaroro is on the other side of the date line, so it’s tomorrow there, but the ship will keep U.S. dating so that there is slightly less confusion."

"Housekeeping: Beginning with the 12 July update, times will be offered in local and GMT. This should help everyone figure out what time it is for where they are."

 
LTM,

           Marty
           TIGHAR #2359A
 
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richie conroy

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Re: NIKU VII
« Reply #89 on: July 12, 2012, 06:50:55 PM »

considering there is about 4 British an 1 Scouse member in forum's, i'll accept your blaming the 4 British members haha  :D ;D
We are an echo of the past


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