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MBARI's SWATH vessel
The R/V Western Flyer is a 117-foot small water-plane area twin hull (SWATH) oceanographic research vessel designed and constructed for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The R/V Western Flyer serves the oceanographic community as a stable platform for deploying, operating, and recovering a tethered remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to a depth of 4,000 meters, conducting hydro-casts (CTD), and other oceanographic activities with state-of-the-art equipment. General ROV operations are, however, the vessel’s primary mission.
Voyage profiles
Vessel operations will typically consist of 3 to 7-day voyages. Extended voyages of two to three months’ duration are planned once a year. Extended voyages are made up of several legs which vary in length up to a maximum of 12 days per leg. The R/V Western Flyer is, on occasion, temporarily redeployed to a new home port for extended voyages. Successful operations have been staged out of Honolulu, Hawaii, Newport, Oregon, Eureka, California, and La Paz, Mexico.
The first year after delivery of the R/V Western Flyer, MBARI finished outfitting lab spaces, integrating the MBARI-designed and built ROV Tiburon, and performing operational sea trials in the waters of Monterey Bay.
Crew continuity, training and role flexibility
The R/V Western Flyer has a regular crew and a shore-based support staff. The crew is trained as a team and all crew members are thoroughly familiar with the arrangement of the vessel, safety systems, operations, and equipment.
R/V Western Flyer crew:
Darrell Palmer: Master
Brad Martin: Chief Mate/Relief Captain
Patrick Duffy: Second Mate/Bosun
Tim McLaughlin: Chief Engineer
Lance Wardle: First Assistant Engineer
Dan Camp: Second Assistant Engineer
Patrick Mitts: Steward
Dan Chamberlain: Technical Electronic Officer
Dan Benvenuti: Able Seaman
Aaron Glass: Deckhand/Oiler; Relief Second Assistant Engineer; Relief First Assistant Engineer; Relief Chief Engineer
More information about the R/V Western Flyer