Konyukhov on solo voyage tries to row through Pacific shallows

VLADIVOSTOK, March 13 (Itar-Tass) - World-famous Russian traveller Fyodor Konyukhov, who continues his solo voyage across the Pacific in his Turgoyak boat, makes frantic efforts to row through ocean shallows near the Tuamotus, a group of islands in French Polynesia. The islands consist of two ranges of low-lying atolls that can be noticed only from a very short distance. Innumerable shallows from colonial corals sit at the depth of 30 cm and sometimes it is simply impossible to see them in time. It is no coincidence that from olden times seafarers have called the Tuamotus, the world’s largest range of atolls, as “dangerous archipelago.” Knowing this Konyukhov tries to row intensely towards the Equator to bypass the Tuamotus, the Moscow-based expedition headquarters say. For the past ten days the traveller’s Turgoyak has been carried away by more than 100 kilometres southward. Konyukhov said over the past 24 hours he managed to move by 2 kilometres northward, but this was a rather short distance to round the insidious islands. He started his voyage in Chile’s Concon on December 22, 2013, planning to reach Brisbane on Australia’s eastern coast in 200 days. The distance between two destinations in a straight line is 6,386 nautical miles (11,827 kilometres). To get to Australia the Russian traveller has to row close to the so-called great circle that stretches over 11,500 miles. If Konyukhov were rowing on the straight, he would never reach his final destination. His Turgoyak would be carried by winds and currents to New Zealand and even southward - to the Antarctic. Konyukhov has been rowing across the Pacific for 80 days. He has already covered 4,721 miles. To reach Brisbane he has to overcome another 3,441 miles.