Three months in the ocean!

Another milestone, another landmark in Fedor Konyukhov’s historic expedition around the world in the Southern Ocean on the rowing boat AKROS.

Having set off on December 5, 2024 in the Drake Passage, Fedor crossed the South Atlantic in 67 days (from the Drake Passage to the longitude of Cape Agulhas, South Africa) becoming the first person in history to complete this route in a rowing boat.

After setting a world record for rowing across the South Atlantic, Fedor continued his journey towards Australia across the Indian Ocean.

On February 2-3 and February 15-17, the boat went through extreme trials – two storms with Force 9-10 winds and 8-meter waves capsized the boat multiple times. Almost all antennas on the deck were damaged, except for AIS and the VHF radio station. One oar is broken (there are two spare sets on board).

Fedor is currently making calls via a handheld Iridium satellite phone and sending text messages through the Iridium Go terminal, but without external antennas. This means the terminals must be taken out onto the open deck to establish a connection with satellites. Communication sessions are possible only in relatively good weather, when waves are not crashing over the boat. As a result, the amount of information coming from «AKROS» has been reduced to a minimum: weather conditions, coordinates, and Fedor’s well-being.

If earlier Fedor shared with us his experiences, feelings and observations of life in the ocean, now in conditions of limited communication opportunities, these updates have been minimized. However, Fedor Konyukhov always keeps a travel diary, so we’ll be able to read his observations in the book after the expedition.

There are 3,600 nautical miles left to the coast of Western Australia (the intended destination). If we were talking about a classic route in the Atlantic, this distance would suggest another 50+ days at sea. But in the Southern Indian Ocean the weather is extremely unstable – either cyclones (storms) or headwinds, as it has been for the last 5 days (the entire first week of March). Instead of making direct progress eastward, Fedor has been tracing loops in the ocean.

If those loops were straightened out, the AKROS boat would have been 250 km further east (closer to the finish line). Given these conditions, it is impossible to predict the arrival time in Australia. Fedor himself said he was considering another 90 days – end of May, beginning of June. That would be late autumn, even the beginning of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The approach to the shore will be difficult.

Fedor also reported that the boat is starting to overgrow with marine algae, which will slow down the progress even further.

Despite all this, during a brief communication session, he sounded upbeat and made jokes. He asked about the team’s work onshore, what was happening in Fedor Konyukhov’s village and how things were going overall.

In conclusion, he said: “I can handle it – the main thing is that the boat holds up.”

The route map is here.