The start is scheduled for December 5

The month of November has flown by, and summer has arrived in New Zealand. The weather gradually begins to change, although here, at 45 degrees south latitude, the cold breath of Antarctica is still felt.

I had a plan to launch the boat into the ocean in the middle of November, but everything went according to a regular pattern of my previous expeditions when we had to wait for at least a month before launch.  It was the same in Chile, when we waited for more than a month for a suitable weather window to go out to the ocean; likewise in Australia we had to wait for a large anticyclone and calm weather before we could start filling the shell of the MORTON balloon with helium and hot air; similarly, it takes at least a month of acclimatization before one can start climbing Mount Everest, and the current expedition also turned out to be not without a long wait for the suitable weather window.

According to the weather forecast, the winds turn south-westerly from Tuesday this week.  The westerly component will allow me to move away from the coast of New Zealand.  The starting weather window is not perfect, the period of the westerly winds will last only three days but it is necessary to seize the moment, as by the next weekend the coast of New Zealand will again be in head-on easterly winds, therefore I must quickly prepare everything for the departure.

I have checked and prepared the boat as much as possible.  Boats and yachts are never in a state of 100% readiness, there is always room for improvement, but the time is tight and we need to launch the boat out to the ocean during this weather window.  I only have three summer months – December-January-February – to be able to row across the South Pacific Ocean and go up to Cape Horn.

Currently, I am also following the round-the-world solo-sailing Golden Globe Race  in which our compatriot from the city of Yaroslavl, Igor Zaretsky, also participates.  Presently, the entire GGR fleet is located in the Southern Ocean and is heading towards Cape Horn.  The weather conditions are very difficult at all latitudes where the yachts are currently sailing.  I am heading to the same latitudes and will move towards Cape Horn. Perhaps, I will see someone who takes part in this race.  Two yachts have already gone around Cape Horn: Frenchman Jean-Luc van den Heede and Dutchman Mark Slats.  Mark crossed the Atlantic Ocean last year in a rowing boat and set a new world record of 29 days.  Back in 2002, when I crossed the Atlantic on the “Uralaz” rowing boat in 46 days and set a new world record for the solo rowers, it seemed like a very good time, and now the rowers can cross the Atlantic ocean in just 30 days!  Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 33 days.

From Monday, December 3, we will begin to execute departure documents and start obtaining permits to go to the high seas.  If the weather permits, on Wednesday, December 5, I plan to depart from the Port Chalmers Yacht Club.

Fedor Konyukhov