Rough conditions forcing a delayed start

Pilot boat

After our delayed start and bad weather conditions we were not able to calibrate in Bantry Bay nor Galway Bay prior to the start of the survey.
After spending our weekend break in Galway ...

Entering Galway harbour

Galway

...the weather forecast did look even worse than before, hence we decided that it would be wise to start the survey on Tuesday rather then on Monday, given that we would not be able to record any reasonable data in these conditions. Additionally hitting areas with wind force up to 10, is not something our equipment (not to speak of ourselves) really like. In order not to loose any time we opted to try and carry out a calibration in the Killary Bay, which at least on the charts looks reasonably sheltered. Getting out of Galway harbour was already becoming more challenging then expected as we faced some problems with our bow propeller.

Arriving in Killary, conditions looked at least okish. Unfortunately we couldn't anchor at the spot we initially intended to calibrate, so we moved a bit out of the bay once more. The anchor seemed to hold us tight at first but as soon as we were ready to put the towed body in the water wind and swell picked up again and conditions became once more everything but ideal. Just to worsen things a bit we suddenly started drifiting again, which is not a good situation in such a narrow bay, which forced us to steam back in direction Galway.

Entering Killary Bay

Trying to calibrate in Killary

After a bit of a rough night we are now back in the Bay and are trying to calibrate in proximity of the Aran Islands, in the Galway Bay, before we can finally move towards our first transect. We are not the only vessel struggling a bit though, with the Irish intending to start their survey today as well and the Norwegians being delayed a bit.

Wave height today...

Given these challenges at the beginning of the survey we have to hope that everything will run smoothly from now on...