Just completed a CTD-rosette station to 2600 m depth. I underestimated the time. It took over 2 hours from CTD into the water to CTD out of the water. Most of the time it is like watching paint dry. The exception is near the bottom.
You have your CTD out on the end of 2.6 km of wire and you want to get within 3-5 m of the bottom. The wind is blowing at 25 knots pushing the ship sideways and the waves are about 2 m high. Fortunately you have an altimeter which gives you the distance to the bottom when you are within about 40 m of the bottom. Oh and you don't directly control the winch, you communicate with the winch operator. Overall the whole process is both harder and easier than it sounds. Today it was a good thing that the ocean bottom was pretty flat. That was my adventure for the day.
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