World's oldest Ocean Rower to Cuba
May 17, 2004 17: 51 EST
At 65 years old, Pavel Rezvoy, a geologist from Ukraine, is the oldest ocean rower in the history of ocean rowing. When he, after 62 days, crossed the finish line in Barbados, he arrived as number two of the solo class in ORSARR 2004, only 2,5 days after the 23 years old winner.
But then grandpa refused to go home: -"There is nothing to do in Ukraine for senior citizens", he said. So Pavel Rezvoy is going to leave Barbados headed to Cuba tomorrow Friday (that's today for some of you), May 14th, at 14:00GMT! He will start from under the webcam in Port St Charles, so you can watch him leave!
This is going to be a tough row, but he is absolutely looking forward to it, saying, that he still has a really big Dorada to fish! And this time he has ALL the fishing tackle ready for the adventure.
He also has a new rudder. During the Atlantic crossing his rudder was broken and he had to build a new one "on his knees" out of plywood onboard (using covers of deck hatches) out at sea. So this time he designed and built the most firm rudder the Ocean Rowing Society has seen, with a stainless steel plate in the middle. Keep your fingers crossed that this season will not bring early tropical storms. (The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, sometimes as early as June).
"I have caught insuperable desire to set out on the ocean – until now, five sixths of the globe has been unknown to me. It's time. It's time to set sail (oars) … while I still can."
Pavel's son is none other than Teddy Rezvoy, who has previously rowed the Atlantic from East to West in 2001 and set out to row solo in the reverse direction last summer, before he had an unwanted visit from the U.S. Navy. Teddy will make another attempt this summer.
Pavel’s own interest in ocean rowing began years ago. His younger brother was a part of Peter Bird’s support team for his attempt to row the Pacific from Vladivostok to San Francisco. But he truly caught the bug when he helped his son Teddy in his preparations for his row from the Canary Islands to Barbados.
Image of Pavel shaking hands in Barbados, courtesy of OceanRowing.com
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