Hello my dear friends, I am grateful for your support and prayers. I’ve weathered the storm. The boat and I really had it handed to us. The storm started in January and only ended in the morning on 3 February, New Zealand time. It’s created gigantic waves which make the ocean look like it’s covered in craters. The waves here don’t come in neat lines, but in hills. I see hills to my right and hills to my left, with the boat sinking into valleys and climbing to summits, where I can see for 5-6 miles around. Then I sink into a crater again, where I can’t even see the sun.
At sunrise I made myself some coffee, throwing in two compressed tablets. I usually use one, but I wanted it a little stronger today. I found a packet of New Zealand biscuits, and when I opened it, the cabin was filled with the smell of pastry and vanilla. It was so strange to smell land smells. There is no smell out here in the ocean. Everyone who has spent a long time out on the ocean yachting knows that you smell land before you see it, and the smell of land is so distinct after months at sea.
I remember when I was travelling on the rowboat “Turgoyak” from Chile to Australia, approaching the islands of French Polynesia. The smell of musty leaves reached me well before land appeared on the horizon.
I am interested to see how the first of the islands of Cape Horn, the archipelago of Tierra Del Fuego, smells. I’ve got 2,500 miles as the crow flies until I reach it.
The day promises to be good. I have a tailwind at 15-17 knots, and I will bring the deck and cabin into order before I get behind the oars. I need to straighten my course and head South-East to Cape Horn while the weather permits. While it storms, I have to go where the wind and waves take me, and when they give me respite, I have to correct my course and set it straight for Cape Horn.
Greetings to all,
Fedor Konyukhov
48’30 South
137’00 West