With Captain Rich Kruse at the helm, the NRC Quest left the dock at 6:45 AM yesterday morning and headed out the Columbia River for a practice run of the anchor installation. Along with Captain Kruse, NRC Director of Marine Operations Rob Huston, Deck Foreman Kyle Sparrow, and Marine Engineer Tim Buckendahl were on hand for the exercise. The conditions were mild, with calm winds and seas and just 2 knots of current, and we reached the practice deployment site at 8:45 AM.

As soon as the Quest was at anchor, the trial run got underway. By 10 AM the anchors and mooring buoys had been deployed, and, reversing the process to retrieve them, the crew had everything back on board by 11:30 AM.  With a successful trial run under their belt, the Quest and crew began the 14 hour transit south to Newport.