Drone fished out of harbour
An unusual rescue in Foveaux Strait may boost Bluff with new scientific and business links to the US.
A 5-metre-long sailing drone was towed into Bluff this month, after being damaged by high winds while traversing the Southern Ocean.
The drone, SD 1003, belongs to the San Francisco-based company Saildrone, founded by British engineer and land yacht sailor Richard Jenkins.
Operating in oceans worldwide, the company uses the solar and wind powered drones to provide real-time environmental and scientific data.
Jenkins said the drone was one of three launched from Hobart in March, in partnership with the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
The drones collect scientific data in the ocean, including information on CO2 and pH levels. While two of the drones were to stay closer to Australia, SD 1003 had a different mission.
‘‘It was really a voyage of exploration for us, we were trying to figure out if we could sustain Southern Ocean conditions in the winter,’’ Jenkins said.
‘‘We’ve sailed hundreds of thousands of miles in other parts of the world, in the Arctic, the Bering Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but we hadn’t gone to the Southern Ocean yet.’’
Jenkins said the trip was a learning experience, with the team now having more knowledge of how to equip the drones for the extreme weather conditions.
‘‘We got down to 55 degrees south, and when turning back we encountered those really big storms you guys had a month ago. The drone was out during that storm and suffered a few injuries because the seas were extreme, so we had to service it.’’
It was then steered by satellite to within a few kilometres of Bluff Harbour, where it was picked up by the Bluff Coastguard.
Bluff Coastguard president Wayne Williams said it was the first time he had been involved in a drone rescue.
‘‘I didn’t even know they were floating around in the ocean, you hear of drones and you think of them flying around the sky. It was pretty straightforward, we just put a tow line on it and pulled it into the harbour.’’
Bluff Engineering director Andrew Watkins said the boat would spend the rest of the winter at his workshop in Bluff, before being patched up and launched again in spring.
Jenkins said it would not be the last time the drones visited Bluff.
‘‘[The drone] needs spare parts, so I’ll return there in September and October to relaunch it to continue on its data missions.
‘‘We would like to actually base our operations out of Bluff, because it’s such an amazing town in terms of location, facilities and access to the southern ocean, so we’ll be back there for sure.
Jenkins said there was a ‘‘huge demand’’ for scientific data within the Southern Ocean. ‘‘The Southern Ocean is key for carbon measurements, it’s a very unknown area of water because it’s so remote and expensive to get to with its harsh conditions.’’
‘‘It’s a very unknown area of water.’’ Saildrone founder Richard Jenkins said there was a ‘‘huge demand’’ for scientific data within the Southern Ocean.