Day three

25 December 2013

“It’s extremely hard to break away from the coast of South America and catch the current. This scenario is completely different from the one in the Atlantic Ocean. Back in 2002, leaving the Canary Islands I was able to ride the Trade Winds that continually pushed me west all the way to Barbados.  I remember covering 40-50 miles a day during my first week in the Atlantic. Here though it will take three days to get 40 miles, if I’m lucky. The wind along the coast is north-west that nudges me back to land. When I’m on oars, the boat goes at 1.5 -2 knots. As soon as I stop rowing, I’m dragged back at a speed of 1 knot.  The headwind is 10 knots. Sleeping for a few hours cost me 3 miles east. The drift is strong and towards the land. I’m not using the sea anchor, not yet. The commercial ships are too many and too close and too fast (14 knots). I’m afraid I won’t be able to maneuver the boat with the anchors dragging at 100 meters overboard.  The main goal right now is to cross the Humboldt current and be on its west side. The winds there are southerly and stable. 

At the end of the day the sun graced me with its presence after three days of drizzle and overcast. The solar batteries charged the accumulators up to 13.5 volts. For the first time I used a water pump and got three bottles of water. Each bottle is 1.5 liters and takes 3 minutes to fill. I started to rearrange the stuff that had been piled into Tourgoyak before the start. Now, I’m deciding what stays at hand and what goes in the back sections of the boat. The time passes fast; the days begin and end with work on board and on oars.  Wishing Merry Christmas to all my friends and family who celebrate this holiday according to the Catholic tradition.”

Right now, every day the administration of Valparaiso sea port sends Fedor a daily weather report. We will duplicate the report here as well:

WEATHER AND SEA BULLETIN VALID 240800/250800 LOCAL TIME.
SYNOPTIC SITUATION:
COASTAL TROUGH.
FORECAST:
OVERCAST TO BROKEN, VIS 6/9 KM MIST, WIND NW/N 5/10 KT
INCREASING 15 KT AND DECREASING IN THE NIGHT/DAYBREAK
NW/N 5/10 KT, SEA STATE MODERATE (2.5/1.5 M) SWELL FROM
S/SW.

MRCC VALPARAISO

Check http://yb.tl/konyukhov2 for “Tourgoyak” position.

Translated by Tatiana Koreski

 

 

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