100 Days in the Southern Ocean
Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov continues his solo circumnavigation aboard the rowboat “AKROS”. Starting on 6 December 2018 from the New Zealand port city of Dunedin, Fedor Konyukhov has travelled more than 8,000 kilometres (4 450 nautical miles), thereby covering the distance from Moscow to Khabarovsk (across Russia). His voyage East continues. Ahead is the most difficult leg of his journey, the final 3,000 kilometres, and a minimum of 40 more days in the Southern Ocean. The weather will deteriorate with every day with the onset of Autumn in the South, which brings with it intense storms, especially nearer to Cape Horn and the Drake Passage.
Beginning in December of last year, Fedor Konyukhov has already set a number of records:
– Oldest solo rower at 67 years of age.
– Longest journey at 100 days in the Southern Ocean. The previous record of 59 days belonged to French rower Joseph Le Guen.
– Most distance travelled by rowboat in the Southern Ocean at 8,000 km or 4,450 nautical miles (in total).
– Also according to Ocean Rowing Society (ORS) combined time in solo ocean crossings on rowing boats exceeded 300 days.
Ahead is the most difficult record – to be the first in history to round Cape Horn in a rowboat and enter the Atlantic Ocean.
A message from Fedor Konyukhov:
“I am nearing 110 degrees West. It is the region of what is known as the Cape Horn approach. To make an analogy with climbing Everest, the previous 100 days were the acclimatisation and preparation, and now we are storming the summit. Ahead lie the 3,000 kilometres approaching Cape Horn. It is there I will have to withstand the maximum mental and physical stress. Everything will be decided by this leg. When you go past the Island of Horn, it is just a point on the map – a cliff, and all of the work is behind you. The journey to the summit itself, that is the reason we set out into the mountains or the sea. As St Cyril of Jerusalem said: “If you are here in body and not in spirit, then it is all in vain”. The past 100 days were my preparation and I think I am ready, but you can never be 100 per cent sure. Everything here is up to God. Will He let me see out this journey to the end? I ask for your prayers.
Regards to all”.
49’40 South
111’00 West