Word for the Day: Persistence

Monday, July 16, 2012
Grapnel and deep-water node
Plan for OOI RSN Primary Node Installation

Plan for OOI RSN Primary Node Installation. Node drawings courtesy of L-3 MariPro.

After 2 days of continuous effort, 3 grapnel runs, and 3 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive attempts, we finally recovered the shallow end of cable Segment 2 from about 1,300m water depth. A re-configuration of our grapnel for soft bottom conditions and the crew’s relentless determination finally paid off!

The beast-like grapnel allowed us to retrieve the cable that we had laid and buried last year to 1m below seabed. The greatest challenge, however, was to bring the cable safely on deck without losing it on the way up.

--Cecile Durand, OOI Marine Maintenance Manager, University of Washington, at sea aboard the TESubCom Dependable.

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