On his birthday, December 12th, 2012 Fedor Konyukhov announced his new project to row across the Pacific Ocean from Chile to Australia. The solo expedition proposed to be a non-stop and unassisted transpacific crossing.
In early December of 2012, Fedor flew to England to finalize the design of his new ocean row boat. It was decided then to build the boat (working title “K9”) at Demon Yachts in Ipswich, on the East Coast of England.
Phil Morrison, a British boat designer, was in charge of the design. In 2002, he designed a 7 meter ocean row boat under the name of Uralaz. On this row boat Fedor set out across the Atlantic Ocean leaving La Gomera and reaching Barbados in just 46 days, setting a new world record. The design of the boat was so successful that the blue prints were used to build more than 20 ocean row boats.
For the last 10 years the row boats’ design has gone through major changes, but for his new boat across the Pacific Fedor decided to keep the classical approach, repeating the form of the previous boat Uralaz.
The 9 meter long and 1.6 meter wide boat has a carbon structure, which results in much lighter weight when compared to the Uralaz. It carries 5 watertight bulkheads, two types of steering gear (stationary and emergency), and large compartments to store food and equipment.
The person in charge of building and equipping the boat was Charlie Pitcher. Charlie has crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice. In 2010 he rowed across the Atlantic in 54 days, and in 2013 he set a new world record of rowing from the Canary Islands to Antigua in just 35 days. To learn more about his transatlantic crossings click here.
The project manager is Simon Chalk, a famous British ocean rower and facilitator of many transoceanic crossings on row boats. Simon has had 6 successful crossings of the Atlantic Ocean and 2 of the Indian Ocean. www.titanrow.com
Rowing solo across the Pacific Ocean is an extreme mission and we need the help of the professionals in this field. To cross the Atlantic you are faced with 3000 nautical miles and that you can manage in one season. In contrast, rowing across the Pacific Ocean, from the coast of Chile to the east coast of Australia, you are up against 9000 nautical miles. We anticipate 180-200 days in the ocean for this project. Understandably, one season won’t be enough. I plan to start in December of 2013 (summer in the Southern Hemisphere) and finish the rowing by the fall of 2014. The heavy storms will be inevitable as I near Australia. The boat will undergo colossal pressure, and I need the latest technology in building and equipping the row boat. That’s why I asked for Charlie and Simon’s help in organizing this project. It’s a great advantage that they both have extensive experience in building their ocean row boats. In addition, Simon has put together ocean races and I will rely on his knowledge to get the boat to Chile from England, and helping me with the logistics of crossing from Chile to Australia. – Fedor Konyukhov
The boat’s name: Tourgoyak.
The investors of the transpacific project 2013-2014:
- Sergey Eremenko (car dealership Seyho-Motors, Chelyabinsk, Russia)
- Oleg Sirotin (hotel–resort Golden Beach on Lake Tourgoyak, Russia; and ski-resort Solnechnay Dolina, Miass, Russia)
The official partner of the expedition: Akros LLC.
The mass-media coverage is provided by the following:
- Modern Academy for the Humanities;
- Tour operator Biblio Globus;
- NTV broadcaster;
- Russian news agency ITAR-TASS;
- Educational TV Chanel of MUH;
- Travel Magazine “Around the Globe”.
Start of the expedition:
The first start was on December 14th 2013 from the Chilean port Concon, not too far from Valparaiso. However, due to a malfunctioning of the boat’s accumulators, Fedor had to return back to Concon. The second start was on December 22nd, 2013 from Concon. The estimated duration of the crossing is 180-200 days. The city of Brisbane, Australia is the desirable finish line.
In order to prepare for the transpacific crossing from Chile to Australia, Fedor used information from other solo east to west crossings of the Pacific. The following information about the Pacific Ocean rowers was taken from the International Ocean Rowing Society:
- Anders Svedlun (Sweden). Start 27.02.1974. Finish 06.09.1974. 191 days on the ocean. Start from Huasco, Chile. Finish in Western Samoa. Covered distance of 6 462 miles.
- Peter Bird (England). Start 23.08.1982. Finish 14.06.1983. 294 days on the ocean. Start from San-Francisco, USA. Finish in the Great Barrier Reef. Covered distance of 8 688 miles.
- Jim Shekhdar (England). Start 29.06.2000. Finish 30.03.2001. 273 days on the ocean. Start from Ilo, Peru. Finish at North Stradbroke Island (Australia). Covered distance of 10 652 miles.
- Maud Fontenoy (France). Start 12.01.2005. Finish 26.03.2005. Start from Lima, Peru. Finish in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. 72 days on the ocean. Covered distance of 4 217 miles.
- Alex Bellini (Italy). Start 21.02.2008. Finish 12.12.2008. 294 days on the ocean. Start from Callao, Peru. Finish within 65 miles off the coast of Australia. 294 days on the ocean. Covered distance of 9 364 miles.
- Serge Jandaud (France). Start 12.06.2010. Finish 23.11.2010. 163 days on the ocean. Start from Callao, Peru. Finish at Wallis Island, Polynesia.
- Fedor Konyukhov (Russia). Start 22.12.2013 from Concon, Chile. 138 days on the ocean as of May 9th, 2014. Targeted finish line is Brisbane, Australia.
The map of the Tourgoyak’s course: http://yb.tl/konyukhov2
The detailed map of the course: www.oceanrowing.com/Konyukhov/Pacific2013/dist_map.htm