RESEARCH VESSEL ODYSSEY

The RV Odyssey is a ninety-three foot boat which the Ocean Alliance uses for field research.

The RV Odyssey serves as a mobile research platform for the Ocean Alliance. The steel hulled ketch was constructed in New Zealand in 1976 and donated to the Ocean Alliance in 1991. The RV Odyssey is fitted with state-of-the art research and communication equipment and is perhaps the most advanced research vessel working with whales today.

Since coming to the Ocean Alliance the Odyssey has become a leading scientific vessel and platform for use by visiting whale research scientists and documentary teams. The Odyssey has been witness to a number of innovations and firsts, including:

• sighting of blue whales in equatorial waters;
• the first successful satellite tag on a sperm whale (by visiting scientist Bruce Mate);
• the first electrocardiogram of a sperm whale (by visiting scientist Dr. Jorge Reynolds);
• the training of over 100 scientists from Latin America in the benign research techniques developed by the Ocean Alliance;
• the first successful underwater sonar tracking of sperm whales throughout their dives,
• technique for placing remote sensing packages on the backs of whales and for acquiring skin samples more easily.

The Odyssey has also served as an important component in the production of educational programs and films. It has featured on

• PBS,
• Discovery Channel,
• BBC,
• Canal Plus,
• NHK,
• TV New Zealand, and
• the IMAX film WHALES, which was shot aboard the Odyssey in 1995.

In 1997 Turner Broadcasting System and NHK shot what is believed to be the first ever Hi Definition film on whales, Diving With the Great Whales. In addition much of the footage for an IMAX feature film on whales was filmed from the Odyssey.

R/V Odyssey in Alaska filming the IMAX movie, "WHALES.

Photo: Chris Johnson

Odyssey Specifications

Documentation: #602326, call sign WCC 7729

Builder: Whangarei, New Zealand 1976

Hull: Steel, full keel

Rig: Ketch, mast height 88 ft +8 ft antenna

Length Overall: 93 ft 4 inches, length on deck 80 ft

Beam: 18 ft 3 inches, draft 11 ft 6 inches

Tankage - (Fuel): 3200 US gallons, range under power of 4,000 NM

Tankage - (Water): 1200 US gallons, HRO 500 g/p/d water maker

Engines: Single, General Motors 6-71 N (218 Horsepower)

Generators: Two Kohler 13.5 KW (super silenced)

Accomodation:

14 people maximum, 10 optimum, crew 3 - 4

Communications:

• Furuno Inmarsat B Phone/Fax/Internet Satellite
• ICOM M-600 transceiver, Apelco VHF
• Three Apelco VHF HH (hand held)
• Inmarsat C SatCom, AT&T High Seas Direct

Navigation:

• Furunco color radar with 48 mile range
• Anritsu radar with 24 mile range
• S Band radar
• Cetrek 757 Autopilot, video plotter
• Fair Tide, Mac interfaced video plotter
• Walker knot master log
• Magellan GPS 5000D, 2 Apelco GPS, Apelco Loran C
• Interphase Probe scanning depthsounder
• Two Data marine depthsounders
• Cetrek wind speed and direction, depth, hull speed and temperature gauges

Electrical Systems (Overhauled summer 1997):

• 220V AC single phase (60 Hz.) 110V AC (60Hz.)
• Isolated system with ground fault detector
• 36V DC, 24V DC, 12V DC and 6V DC
• Four sets of heavy duty dry gel 24V battery banks 2200 Amp hrs
• One heavy duty 12V battery bank
• One, 2500 Watt inverter

Other:

• 14 ft rigid bottom Rendova inflatable complete with 50 hp 4-stroke motor, roll bar and spot lights, depthsounder, GPS, VHF.
• 12 ft Safe-boat, 40 hp Honda 4-stroke
• 15 hp outboard motor
• Two Ocean kayaks
• One 10 cubic foot refrigerator, one 20 cubic foot freezer
• Three heads. Holding Tanks: Fwd 330 gallons, Aft 290 gallons

• Apple Quadra 800 mainframe, one Apple powerbook, Apple laser printer
• Bubble jet printer
• MO drive 120 Mb
• Panasonic notebook linked to Satcom

Software:

• Canary
• Live Picture
• Microsoft Word 6
• Microsoft Excel 4.0
• Navigate 3.1.6D
• Adobe Photoshop
• End Note
• Quicken
• Quark Express
• Act
• Norton Utilities
• Virus Scan
• Davis Weatherlink
• Maclink
• Macplot

• One Hi 8 video camera with underwater housing
• Two Minolta 7000I 35mm camera and data backs
• Six pairs of binoculars with built-in compasses and range finders
• One Optical Range Finder

• Two Benthos multi-channel acoustic arrays
• Two hydrophones
• One Sony DAT recorder
• One analogue recorder
• 220 Watt amplifier with two underwater speakers

• Whalecam, an Intensified CCD Camera with Auto Iris auto gain, (rated from bright sea surface to 10-6 foot candles face plate illumination levels), 1,000m depth rating. a modified Hi 8 video camera, Tie Tack hydrophones, VHF transmitters, Time Depth recorder, acoustic transmitters
• Biopsy equipment for DNA and Toxicology
• Deep ocean probe to measure water salinity, temperature and depth
• Dissection Kits, microscope and preservation chemicals
• Davis Weather Station link to on-board computers

• Furano CH 12 multibeam scanning sonar
• Furano CH 50 Tracking Sonar
• Davit payload crane, 1000 lb capacity
• Forward stay sail lifting boom, 750 lb capacity
• Cannon photocopier
• Television set
• Parasail for aerial reconnaissance when finding whales in remote areas

• Dive steps and platform on port side capable of carrying a man in full dive gear plus camera gear, high speed deployment possible in most sea states.
• Two scuba compressors, ten scuba tanks, six complete dive rigs, two dive computers, eight wet suits, four Bcs etc.
• Hooka rig, 60 ft of hose

• Whale boom side sprit capable of supporting three people 25 feet off to the side of the boat. This is currently used for attaching tags or as a unique close-up platform for filming.
• Crows nest on mizzen and main mast
• Camera mounts for crows nests and rails
• High capacity underwater bow mounts, designed to hold an IMAX camera at speeds up to eight knots