It has been a few weeks since we checked in on the progress of Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov, the man who is attempting to row around the world via the Southern Ocean. Despite an array of challenges, he is continuing to make headway on this crazy adventure through one of the most dangerous and wild bodies of water on the planet.
As of now, Konyukhov is roughly a third of the way through his crossing from Dunedin, New Zealand to Cape Horn in Chile, the target for the first leg of his circumnavigation attempt. He has rowed more than 2800 km (1739 miles) so far, but still has a long way to go. All told, he'll need to cover a total of 7400 km (4598 miles) just to reach his stopping point on this leg of the journey. If successful, he'll attempt to row from Cape Horn to Australia next year.
Recently, Fedor told his son via satellite phone that he feels like he is stuck in Ground Hog Day. "Nothing changes besides the time and the calendar date," he said although he was quick to add, "Everything is going well."
That's a far cry from earlier this month when the Russian had to row through a small cyclone that hit his route. Fedor rung in the new year enduring 15 meter (49 foot swells) and 100 km/h (62 mph) winds. Fortunately, he was able to weather that storm and continue on, thankful that it wasn't as powerful of a storm as it could have been. He's likely to endure more such challenges moving forward, as the austral winter begins to arrive in the Southern Ocean. Typically, by late February or early March things start to get rough in those already turbulent waters. At his current pace, Fedor is likely to still be out on the water at that time.
This is the first of three stages for the Southern Ocean row. Dunedin to Cape Horn started last fall and will continue for the first few months of 2019. Then, Konyukhov will take a break and head home, before returning to the ocean late in the year to make the crossing to Australia, where he'll once again wait out the change in weather and season. He hope to row from Australia back to Dunedin in late 2020 or early 2021 depending on conditions.
You can follow Fedor's progress on his official website.
