08/10/2021

Parallel planning is under way by three entities for DXpeditions to Bouvet Island in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The remote volcanic, glacial sub-Antarctic island in the South Atlantic is the second-most-wanted DXCC entity, according to Club Log. In June, the Intrepid-DX Group canceled its 3Y0J DXpedition, planned for 2023, after the RV Bravehart was put up for sale. Not long after, the Intrepid-DX Group revived its plans and was seeking a suitable vessel.

On August 8, a DXpedition using the 3Y0J call sign[1] announced the signing of a contract with the expedition vessel Marama, a 101-foot sailing ketch with "a proven track record and experienced polar crew." Co-leaders for the November 2022 effort are Ken Opskar, LA7GIA; Rune Oye, LA7THA, and Erwann Merrien, LB1QI. Opskar, who holds the 3Y0J license, split from the Intrepid-DX Group DXpedition effort he headed with co-leader Paul Ewing, N6PSE.

In a brief announcement on August 3, Ewing had said that a Bouvet DXpedition team under "revised leadership" had found "a suitable/affordable vessel willing to take us to Bouvet," and was negotiating the terms of that charter contract. Ewing's co-leaders would be David Jorgensen, WD5COV, and Kevin Rowett, K6TD. The Intrepid-DX Group now must secure a new license and landing permission from the Norwegian Polar Institute.

Meanwhile, Polish radio amateur Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX, says planning continues for a second expedition on Bouvet Island in late 2021, using the call sign 3Y0I[2]. "As you probably know, our first attempt to reach the island of Bouvet in March 2019 failed," Grzyb says on the DXpedition's website. "We were so close - just 63 nautical miles off the shore of Bouvet Island!"

The reconstituted 3Y0J group under the LA7GIA/LA7THA/LB1QI triumvirate said in its August 8 announcement that it planned to begin fundraising "immediately." It would field a team of 12 operators for a 20-day stay "around Bouvet." They would set up at Cape Fie at the southeastern part of the island, which is called "the only feasible part where a DXpedition can safely set up camp on rocky ground; we will not set [up] camp on the glacier."

The Intrepid-DX Group's Paul Ewing, N6PSE, had no comment regarding the 3Y0J release of August 8.


[1] http://www.3y0j.no/
[2] https://bouvetoya.org/

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