Day 107

The storm continues.  Data from the global weather forecasting model GFS indicate 40-knot winds, with some gusts reaching 50 knots (90 km an hour) at the location of Fedor Konyukhov’s rowboat (50.51 degrees South and 105.25 degrees West).  However, the greatest danger Fedor Konyukhov faces right now is the Southern Ocean’s powerful and destructive waves.  The GFS model shows waves reaching heights of 8 metres, with a period of 15 seconds (a wave period is the span of time, expressed in seconds, between the passing of two consecutive wave crests through the same point).

The waves are 300-350 metres long and travel at 90 kilometres an hour (25 metres per second).  Fedor calls them “irons”.  These monumental waves glide across the ocean, leaving a white, foamy trail behind them.  Every 15 seconds one of them passes under the boat and hurtles toward Cape Horn at just under 90 km per hour.  The boat becomes completely submerged in the windy, foamy ridges.  It could capsize at any point.

An SMS message from Fedor Konyukhov via satellite messenger Bysky reads: “The wind and the ocean have raised enormous waves, which are trying to destroy the boat.  Blow after blow – it’s relentless”.

The storm is forecast to begin calming down in the next 6-8 hours, but the respite will be brief.  A new storm is set to arrive in the area on Monday, and another mid- next week.  In the next 7 days, Fedor Konyukhov will have to withstand 4 storms in a row with a little rest in between.  But these 12-15 hour respites will by no means see the Southern Ocean calm.  Waves of 5-6 metres will accompany the “AKROS” until Thursday 28 March.  We haven’t had the opportunity to obtain photos or videos from aboard the rowboat, but we do have photos taken by Fedor during his circumnavigation aboard the yacht “Alye Parusa” in these Southern latitudes.

The yacht was 25 metres (85 feet) long, while the length of the “AKROS” is 9 metres, with the deck sitting at just 20 centimetres from the surface of the ocean.