Day 17

An early start to depart our Airbnb before moving into our new floating accommodation for the next few days. However, this was the first day of the research study and our duty doc (Josh) was the first to rise to collect a variety of body fluids from the team required for the research study. One hastens to add that this process was entirely voluntarily!

One of research tasks involved drinking heavy water. Despite Tom’s attempt to convince everyone it was radioactive and would give us superman powers, it’s perfectly safe in the tiny amounts that we use and is a clever way of measuring changes in body composition over the course of the expedition.

It also has a great historical link. Heavy water was produced at the Vemork hydroelectric plant in Norway and became the target of one of the most famous sabotage missions of the Second World War. The Norwegian resistance fighters destroyed the facility before escaping on skis across the Hardangervidda to Sweden - an extraordinary feat that inspired the story of the ‘Heroes of Telemark’. The team undertook expedition preparation training as part of a challenging crossing of the Hardangervidda in April. It’s a nice reminder that in another small way this expedition brings together skiing, science and a fascinating piece of Norwegian history alongside Nansen.

Once we arrived at Discoverer we were greeted by the rest of the crew who would accompany us to Greenland over the next few days. After a quick kit issue of foul weather gear and our life jackets and finding our racks which resembled more of a hammock than a bed, we all sat down over a hot wet to do introductions and talk about the plan. Led by our brilliantly experienced skipper, David, and his trusty team of first-mate Ade and second-mate, George, we were able to finally relax for the first time in a few days. It was a huge relief to have all our kit packed on the Discoverer and to be completely self-sufficient. No last-minute trips to the outdoor shop anymore (we’d bought most of it already anyway!).

The rest of the day was filled with an induction to Discoverer. For some this was a quick refresh but for others, such as Col, our RAF representative, this was a whole new world and language. He will be a salty sea dog in no time. We learnt how to put up the sails, extinguish a fire, cook on a gimble, and even flush the toilet! In all seriousness this was an important day as prepping the boat for sea requires teamwork, leadership and a bit of graft.

The final big job for the day was to victual the boat. For the non-Navy that means buying an epic amount of food – enough to feed 15 people for 2 weeks at sea. No shops in Greenland so don’t forget the milk! The supermarket sweep team did a stellar job, buying the shop out of eggs, meat and practically everything else and the somewhat time-consuming process of manually scanning 135 apples had to be repeated because the till had never scanned so much food and froze just before payment! Alas, these things aren’t supposed to be easy and expeditions (to the shops) build resilience! A quick scoot back to the yacht in trolleys and the boat was now loaded ready for sea…

Board boat, training alongside meet rest of crew, comedy supermarket trip- ‘Ruffgate’