23/3-15

Position: 85° 26.1' N, 38° 04' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1034 hPa, wind 7 knots from the S. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. Shooting seismic reflection. The NE-SW running crack c. 50 behind the hovercraft that separated the thermistor string from the rest of the camp widened to c. 20 meter. A parallel crack 50 meter in front of the craft opened and became c. 2 meter wide. But at 1200 hours a new crack between the two cut 3 meter to the side of the hovercraft and separated the tent from the craft. About 20 cm of overwater flooded the ice. This represented an imminent danger as the skirt would freeze in and lock the hovercraft to the ice. We disconnected cables, recovered the air gun and took down the plywood structures that connected the tent to the hovercraft. We further laid out the 9 x 14 meter tarp in front of the hovercraft to prevent air leakage through the porous snow. We started the engine, but were unable to get the necessary speed for the craft to lift. For a short while we reached 1500 revolutions pr. minute (rpm) which gave sufficient lift to enable the winch to pull the craft half a boat length forward and out of the water. Tried a number of likely options (fuel filters. air filter, turbo, pipe connection to intercooler, rack on fuel pump) to solve the engine speed problem in consultation chief engineer H. Berge (retired) in Spain, but got no significant improvement.