The Point Sur is 135 feet long and 32 feet abeam...with a draft of 9 feet and a gross tonnage (definition) of 298 tons. Interestingly, its specs are not that much different than the specs of the wood-hulled R/V Hero, and it is no more ice-strengthened. I really like the above photo (which was posted on this page of the Point Sur blog, in part because I spent about a year in 2001-02 in this area working on a power plant here. Not the older one you see pictured...but a 4-on-2 gas turbine combined cycle plant which was just behind these older units. End of digression...the Point Sur supported several science groups including one from Duke University which was tagging whales (with suction cup trackers) to study their movements. They also took the UAB research team out for some diving operations (the UAB blog) to collect specimens in the Lemaire Channel.
The use of the Point Sur was considered a success by some of the research groups--the ones which were able to use it; hopefully it (or a ship of similar size with a bit of ice capability) will be used again in the future. Here's an excellent Antarctic Sun article by Sean Bonnette with more details, and here's the link to the main Point Sur blog. |