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Fedor completes repairs in the "dusty" sea
May 19, 2005 15: 37 EST
Fedor’s luck bounced back after Friday the 13th’s mysterious equipment failure. He managed to repair the damage and get the staysail back up before running into strong northeast winds. It was no simple task, though; Fedor called the repairs “a titanic job. The wind was 20-25 knots with 30 knots in gusts. The boat was sailing 6-7 knots shaking and rolling.”
Fedor knew that his circumnavigation would present some technical challenges, but he never expected a brand-new stay pin to snap and send the staysail crashing about the deck. After the impressive display of handyman skills (by which he was able to preserve his “without assistance” status), Fedor is now back on track, sailing north in the direction of the Azores Islands. He’s now passing through a desert-like area of the eastern Atlantic.
Like it was washed in the wine pot
Apparently, the Atlantic Ocean can be a dry, dusty place. The trade winds are blowing at 20-25 knots from the Sahara Desert via Mauritania (see satellite image). Fedor reported that the deck is covered with red dust. The main sail looks like it was washed in the wine pot, and his hands and feet are red too.
But this isn’t Fedor’s first experience with the dusty sea. In 2002, when he was rowing across the Atlantic, Fedor remembers having sand on the boat’s deck (and in his mouth) all the way until the middle of the ocean.
Fedor Konyukhov 53, gets the all around, all-star Explorers badge. Let's go through his expedition list: An unsupported South Pole ski, supported North Pole crossing (three NP trips all together), crossed the Atlantic 12 times (once in a rowboat!), climbed Everest and the rest of the seven summits, three circumnavigations of the world in a sailboat (once against the prevailing winds and once in a solo race around the world), traveled from Vladivostok to St Petersburg by bike, an Iditarod, and rode the Great Silk Path on a camel.
On November 24, 2004, Fedor started his round the world single-handed non-stop sail. He headed west to the Atlantic Ocean on a 85 ft Open maxi boat from Falmouth Bay (Cornwall, England). The trip will take around 120 days.
"I am searching for an explanation for the sense of life through my journeys." In spite of the records, to Fedor, it's all a spiritual journey, and fairness is a part of that. In the beginning of this sail, Fedor faced a tough choice. His Argos beacon stopped transmitting during the first night at sea - he was offered replacements to be delivered to his boat by ORS. According to the rules from the World Speed Sailing Records, collecting replacement beacons would jeopardize Fedor’s "without assistance" status. He declined, taking a security risk in the Southern ocean. (If something happened, the home team would have had to track the boat (life raft) for weeks with an Argos).
Fedor Konyukhov was born December 12, 1951, into a family of fishermen in Priazovye, on the Azov Sea. He is a distance sailing captain and a yacht captain who has covered more than 150,000 nautical miles solo by sail. He is also an honorable resident of the city of Nakhodka (Primorsk Region, Russia), the city of Terni (Italy), and the village of Bergin (Kalmykia, Russia). Fedor is also an artist and paints his expeditions.
Satellite image of sand blowing into the eastern Atlantic courtesy of konyukhov.ru.
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| Fedor - less than a week to go! Jun 3, 2005 | | Saito San - closing in on home and record! Jun 2, 2005 | | Atlantic Four: And they are off! Jun 1, 2005 | | Ollie - is anybody out there? May 31, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week in Review May 30, 2005 | | And they are off! May 27, 2005 | | Ellen gives transatlantic record a second battle May 27, 2005 | | Vagabond update - Polar bears, 200 candles and ice melting in Inglefieldbukta May 26, 2005 | | ExWeb interview - Atlantic Four: "It was all about persuading our wives" May 25, 2005 | | Iridium: "Invalid battery - matches found, 0" May 24, 2005 |
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