11/05/2019

Another attempt to activate Bouvet Island is in the planning stages, according to the 3Y0I website. Efforts are under way to secure the necessary funds.

"As you probably know, our first attempt to reach the island of Bouvet in March 2019 failed," the news update said. "Despite complex preparations and training received in Cape Town, South Africa, our vessel got hit by a big storm so badly that we had no choice but to sail back to Cape Town to reshuffle our plans. We were so close - just 63 nautical miles offshore!" The 3Y0I sponsors estimate that a second attempt would cost around $170,000. "[W]e have already secured half of the required budget to go back to Bouvet," the announcement said, adding that it's beyond the capacity of the DXpedition team members to cover the entire cost, so they are trying to collect $85,000 to fund the second attempt.

The 3Y0I team has a GoFundMe page[1], set up by 3Y0I team leader Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX. No time frame was given for the second attempt by Grzyb's team, and it's not known if Grzyb has obtained operating permission from the Norwegian government. The 19-square-mile subantarctic island is a Norwegian dependency.

"Our intentions are clear: If we don't reach our fundraising goal, we won't receive nor spend a single cent you donate and it would be returned to your GoFundMe account for withdrawal or to support any other GoFundMe project of your choice," the announcement says.

"The future of amateur radio expeditions, especially in terms of activating entities placed across cold high-latitude seas, isn't bright," the 3Y0I statement says[2]. "Apart from the uncertainty of future solar cycles' strength that may badly reflect radio propagations, there are still very few of us who realize that visiting remote cold islands may become very seldom or even almost impossible."

According to Club Log's DXCC Most Wanted List[3], Bouvet Island is No. 2, right behind North Korea. The unrelated 3Y0Z DXpedition attempt to land on Bouvet in early 2018 failed after the vessel transporting the team developed engine issues as it lay just offshore. The last successful Bouvet activation was 3Y0E, during a scientific expedition over the winter of 2007 - 2008. - Thanks to Southgate Amateur Radio News via OPDXÿ


[1] https://www.gofundme.com/f/3y0i-bouvet-island-expedition
[2] https://bouvetoya.org/3yoi-preparations-resumed/
[3] https://clublog.org/mostwanted.php

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