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Fedor Konyukhov: Declines Argos replacement on unassisted sail

Dec 15, 2004 05: 51 EST
Previously published Dec 8, 2004 09: 40 EST

In Adventure, rules are a serious business. At least if the men and women are out to set records, first's, or otherwise compare themselves to others. The rules clearly state starting- and ending points, distance, assistance, travel aids and a definition of the term “solo/singlehanded”.

From Himalaya to the Atlantic

The reasons for the rules are to create fairness: If Liz Hawley in Himalaya wasn't so diligent in her interviews of mountain climbers - there would have been much more summiteers. On the Oceans, there are strict rules for non-stop without assistance races.

Channels and Poles

Even crossing a channel is no monkey business - the Everest summiteer and polar skier Khoo Swee was swimming across the Malacca Strait Saturday, using the rules of the famous English Channel Swim; at all times during the swim, he was not allowed any physical contact with any part of the support vessel or any human on board. In Polar areas likewise, AdventureStats compiled the rules for skiing trips.

Deceit of Sponsors and Media

So what would happen if the rules were not there? Only recently we learned of a polar skier who apparently claims an unsupported, full polar trek - although he was unsuccessful. This deceit of sponsors and media is rumored to have landed him a million dollar contract with a major brand! A fellow skier, who didn't cheat, was instead refused sponsorship. The Polar statistics will make it possible to highlight this injustice.

A winner never cheats

A winner never cheats and a cheater never wins. Set rules help to distinguish the true Champs. One such is Fedor Konyukhov.

Wednesday, November 24, Fedor Konyukhov 53, 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.

One of world's greatest all-round explorer's

This Russian gets the all around, all-star Explorers badge. Let's go through his tick 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.

It's all inside

He doesn't travel for the records only: "I am searching for an explanation for the sense of life through my journeys. I want to know why man is born, grows, lives through many difficulties, gets married, has children and then dies. The same is true for his children."

To Fedor, it's all a spiritual journey, and fairness is a part of that. This week, Fedor faced a tough choice.

In 2002, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 24 ft oceanrowing boat and set new world record - 46 days (unassisted). The boat was tracked by ORS and the job was done perfectly. This year Fedor wanted to continue cooperation with Ocean Rowing Society and signed an agreement with ORS to provide 2 beacons and set up a chart that will be updated once a day.

Dead battery

Fedor's Argos beacon stopped transmitting during the first night at sea, Fedor was instructed to switch on the back up second beacon, 3 days later that also stop transmitting. - turns out an error was made - instead of 2 new beacons 2 used beacons were delivered to Fedor by ORS.

As soon as it was discovered that both Argos beacons had used batteries, Argos arranged 3 new beacons to be delivered to Tenerife (Canary Island), and they would be delivered to his boat by ORS.

No small decision

Would he take them? This was no small decision. The Argos beacons, equipped with lithium batteries transmit up to 20 times a day. Even if all power supplies on board go down the home team can track the boat.

In the Southern Ocean satellite equipment (sat phone, sat-C) is usually not working properly - in case of danger EPIRBs beacons only transmit signal for 48 hours. When the boat is sailing so deeply south - 48 hours is not enough time to complete “search and rescue” mission, but with Argos the home team could have tracked the boat (life raft) for weeks.

"I do not want to risk my designation"

Fedor was informed about the mistake with the beacons and that there are new beacons on Tenerife, he sent the following message to the Ocean Rowing Society:

“To Kenneth
I accept your apology regarding the beacons, thank you for the trouble of getting new beacons to Tenerife I know you did your best to correct the situation, but because I want to do unsupported/unassisted sail I decline to take them. I know I will be out of contact when I am in Southern ocean, but I do not want to risk my designation of unsupported/unassisted.”

According to the rules from the World Speed Sailing Records, collecting replacement beacons would jeopardize Fedor’s "without assistance" status.

The champ complied without a word of excuses. He chose a safety risk - but the rules and the risk aren’t any different from what the old explorers had to face – and after all, isn't that what adventure is still all about?

Following this sail, Fedor will go straight to Greenland to run tests on a specially designed iceboat he plans to use for an Antarctic crossing. He figures that a, "crossing of Greenland Island will be the best preparation for Antarctica and great adventure itself."

The same folks in the UK that built his Ocean Rowing boat built the iceboat. Back in 2002 he set the current solo, unassisted record for an Atlantic Ocean row, 46 days and 4 hours - and he was over 50 years old.

Just because he has completed many adventures before does it mean that the Antarctic crossing will be a walk in the park. Just recently a couple of folks brought their iceboat down to Antarctica to go from the Pole to the Coast.

This craft was even conceived by a retired Formula 1 car designer. They had to abort simply because they had no wind! Something tells us lack of wind won't entirely stop Fedor in his tracks - he's probably got a towline and some crampons so he can lug the thing across if all else fails!

Fedor Konyukhov was born December 12, 1951, in a family of fishermen in Priazovye, at Azov sea. He is a distant 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).

Image of Fedor courtesy of his website.

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