Yesterday evening's attempts to employ the wireline packer were unfortunately in vain. Thus, it was decided to go ahead and prepare for N-size core drilling. During the night the HQ drill string was tripped out and, after replacement of the drill bit by a "shoe", tripped in again as a temporary casing. Then the HQ drill string was sealed against the borehole wall to prevent the sedimentation of cuttings between the drill string and the borehole wall, which could render attempts to retrieve the drill string as planned after the end of drilling impossible. Presently, 1616 m of NQ drill string is assembled from 3 m pieces and tripped in - and this will take a while. If everything goes well, the first NQ drill core is expected at the surface tomorrow around lunch time.