February 27th was a significant day in Fedor’s transpacific expedition. For the first time, since his start in Chile 67 days ago, Fedor saw land. It was Fatu Hiva, the southernmost island of the Marquesas archipelago.
Fedor shares via the satphone: “The night before approaching Fatu Hiva I saw the clouds on the horizon, and knew that I was getting close to the island. It was a sleepless night. The wind would switch from north to south pulling the boat in opposite directions. By morning though, the wind became stable, coming from the north-east which allowed me to pass the island at a safe distance at starboard. What are my emotions after seeing land for the first time in over two months? I have to admit, it’s a bit sad to leave such an enormous part of the Pacific Ocean behind. For more than two months I rowed without the worry of running into any land masses. But now I’ve left the empty ocean behind. Passing Fatu Hiva marks a new stage of my expedition. From now on, my carefree rowing has to become much more strategic in order to safely pass the Tuamotu Archipelago that is spread out at the port side of Tourgoyak. We are talking about 700 miles of large and small islands, atolls and reefs. My goal is to leave the archipelago without a glitch; otherwise, I risk landing at the beach of some small island. It was great to see the contours of the island. It’s been too long since I saw trees or green earthy tones. My eyes were soaking in all of the richness of the Fatu Hiva colors. Another sight, less welcomed, but much closer to the boat, was two sharks. They approached my boat circling around it, as if they were checking me out. This is definitely a new addition to the scenery around me. Ready or not, but I’m no doubt in a new part of the Pacific.”
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
Translated by Tatiana Koreski