Day 96
The weather is good, the ocean calmed down, the wind is westerly at 20 knots. Hopefully, mother nature will give the boat and I a break. As always in good conditions, you need to conduct an inspection of all compartments, check everything, sort things through. In the Southern Ocean, good weather is a luxury, and you need to use every moment of it to prepare yourself and the boat for the next round of bad weather.
I remembered that on 12 March 2008, I rounded Cape Horn on the ‘Alye Parusa’ yacht while sailing around Antarctica (Antarctica Cup). It was only a half-way mark then and, after passing the Horn, I continued sailing towards Australia.
Most people associate March with the arrival of spring, while I associate March with the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, with my expeditions to the North Pole and with passing Cape Horn. In the Arctic, this is the season for the start of polar expeditions. In the Southern Ocean, March is a good time to go around Cape Horn.
On 3 March 1988, I started as part of the Soviet-Canadian expedition to the North Pole under the leadership of Dmitry Shparo. We started from the archipelago Severnaya Zemlya, Sredny (Middle) Island, Cape Arctic. During that season, our team of 13 people skied across the Arctic Ocean along the route: USSR – North Pole – Canada. We reached the North Pole on 24 April 1988 and finished in Canada, on Ward Hunt Island on 1 June 1988. For three months we walked on the drifting ice of the Arctic. Nearly 100 nights on the ice.
On 4 March 1989, I departed to the North Pole as part of the expedition “Arctic” under the leadership of Vladimir Chukov. Again, we started from the archipelago Severnaya Zemlya, from the Shmit island. The expedition reached the North Pole on 6 May 1989.
On 3 March 1990, I departed on a solo trip to the North Pole. Started from Cape Lokot (Elbow), Sredny Island. Reached the North Pole on 8 May 1990. Travel time was 72 days.
For three years in a row, I took part in expeditions to the North Pole on skis. I still remember the smell of the Arctic, and still can see piles of ice hummocks before my eyes.
On 4 March 2000, I started from Anchorage in the Iditarod dog sledding race. Passed through all of Alaska from Anchorage to Nome – 1046 miles.
For the end of the current month of March I set the following waypoints:
• 50 degrees South and 110 West.
• 51 degrees S and 100 degrees W.
• 52 degrees S and 90 degrees W.
I will work on this plan, it would be good to go even further south than that. It is very important for me to maintain a course to the southeast.
Fedor Konyukhov
49’00 South
114’40 West