It was uphill pilotage because the weather got seriously worse near the station - biting cold and bitter wind, the iceboat's captain Victor Kovalchuk said. "It was hard work for the icebreaker", the press release cites him as saying.
Meanwhile, the Krasin has coped with the job and promptly brought fuel, food, medicines and research equipment during the brief navigation in the Ross Sea. "Now McMurdo has all it takes to carry it through till the end of the year", the press release reads.
The iceboat provided help on instruction from the Russian government, asked for help by the American administration.
"It is for the first time that American Polar stations, seeing themselves as the leaders of Antarctic exploration, have asked for help from Russia", said president of the Polar Explorers' Association Artur Chilingarov, coordinator of the assistance operation
The Krasin sailed off from Vladivostok to the Antarctic on December 21, 2004. His return to Vladivostok is expected next March.
