Trip Report -8- On Tuesday, January 30, Chuck Otterman, Hugh Pratt and I met at 11:00a to continue discussions. Pratt said that when we met in Bill Stanley's office on January 8 there was no mention that the barges were not on the vessel. I said that we still felt we could get the barges and the Liktanur II to Kwajalein soon enough to mount them. The barges went to Kwajalein all in good time but the Liktanur II was delayed because of bad weather, We are now in a situation not of our own making, where it will take about 14 days to prepare and mount the barges. Otterman then brought up the concept of building a raft and basing it as a platform under the gangway of the ship. Pratt said that a 2-week delay would cause a scrub of the mission because of both the TT and U.S. doctors' commitments, Pratt was very upset and asked me to sign a piece of paper whereby I would take personal responsibility for the safety of the patients. I told him that that was an absurd request and had no relevance to our discussion about getting people on and off the ship and we should calm down and return to a rational discussion of options and alternatives. I then suggested to both Otterman and Pratt that it was my recommendation as DOE Representative that we target to leave as close to Friday, February 2, schedule as possible, and we should use the raft concept. I noted that even though we were obviously having problems among the three of us that we should keep cool and we should keep close communications since we were all working to have a safe and productive mission for the people of Rongelap and Utirik. We agreed to meet again at 5:00p. I then went to Don McAfee and told him that our pilot was sick and asked if Global would be willing to make Paul LaPointe available for the trip were he to be interested. Don said he would check with his Oakland office and with COL Reeve because of potential insurance Problems, etc. I saw LaPointe on the way to the ship and told him that, but he said that he was not interested because DOE was not fair to him after they had worked so hard for DOE. his views and left. I told him I respected At 5:00pm I met with Dr. Pratt, Bill Scott, Mr. Otterman, and Jan Kocian of U.S. Oceanography. The discussions were Otterman suggested cutting off his gangway and building very cordial. a raft under it as a stable platform. Hugh Pratt liked the idea and also wanted something for the beach. We agreed we should keep trying for a Friday departure. Bill Scott's experience was a big help at this meeting. We had repeatedly been told by Dr. Pratt of the dangerous surf conditions at the islands. When Scott arrived we learned (andconfirmed later by experience at the worst time of year) that there is a small chop in the trades and it presents no problem.