Day 50

Fedor via the Iridium satphone: “It’s been 50 days since my start from Chile on December 22nd, 2013. Back on land people celebrated Christmas, New Year, and now have welcomed the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but there haven’t been too many changes for me out here on the ocean. The fifty days of constant tipping and rolling of the boat and my rowing have conditioned me to be under a constant stress. I can’t relax even when I lay down in the aft cabin to catch that coveted one hour of sleep in between my shifts. The repetitive motion of rowing has begun manifesting in aches and pains of my hands. While I’m on oars, the pain is not so deep, but as soon as I stop rowing to get some rest, the pain is more intense. It’s a nagging pain, like someone is twisting my arms. This just shows that the health of an ocean rower is an important aspect of the entire expedition. I’m hoping that my body can take and cope with this beating called ocean rowing.

It’s time to start paying ever so close attention to the weather reports, particularly about the wind direction. Right now, I’m in the latitude of my next way point, which is Fatu Hiva of the Marquesas Islands. I would like to have a good angle to maneuver pass the island. If I get too far north or south, my passing of the island will be more difficult. As of today, I have rowed 3100 nautical miles since the start, and according to my onboard computer, I have 6000 more miles to go to reach Brisbane. A one third of the way in 50 days is a very good result. Today I crossed 120° of the Western Longitude, which means I am no longer in the waters under the search and rescue authorities of Chile and Peru. Tourgoyak and I had entered into the region of the French Polynesia designated zone of responsibility for search and rescue.”

The map of the Tourgoyak@@apos@@s course: http://yb.tl/konyukhov2

The detailed map of the course: www.oceanrowing.com/Konyukhov/Pacific2013/dist_map.htm

Translated by Tatiana Koreski