October 8, 2019
The Akademik Fedorov was moored to an ice floe to set up an M site, another variation of instruments planned for the Distributed Network. These sites were most often deployed using the helicopter but poor flying conditions meant ship deployment was safer. This ice floe was unstable, so for safety, as few people as possible were permitted on the ice. This meant there was a day off from the ice for students. Having some down time, the competitive sport of “hit the ball” was born. The only rule was to…hit the ball. This became a bit of an obsession in the quest to pass time on the ship. In addition to this new game, we had a handful of card and board games, we played a round of assassin, and devised different games using water bottles and whatever else we had kicking around. We watched movies and tv shows that were downloaded before leaving, and the musically gifted played guitars, ukulele and sang. A lot of reading and writing also went on.
Watch and learn about "Hit the Ball"!