Russian traveller to cover about 270 km to reach endpoint of his trans-Pacific solo voyage

SYDNEY, May 26 (Itar-Tass) - Famous Russian traveller Fyodor Konyukhov’s, who is crossing the Pacific solo in the rowboat Turgoyak, is yet to cover less than 150 nautical miles, or about 270 kilometres, to reach his final destination in Australia’s Brisbane, the chief of the Konyukhov’s expedition headquarters in the Australian city of Mooloolaba, Queensland, his son Oskar Konyukhov, told Tass-Tass on Monday. “Favourable wind has fixed in the area where my father’s boat is now staying, but the wind is too weak to help him,” Konyukhov Jr. said. “Yesterday and today, my father has been rowing practically all the time. So, his progress slowed down - he managed to cover only about 30 nautical miles yesterday. According to forecasts, such weather will stay for the next few days, so we hope will be covering about 30 miles a day. In this case, we expect him here on Thursday or Friday.” “When we spoke with him this morning, he said he was already looking out for the earth, but he is still faraway from the shore. The earth usually becomes visible at a distance of about 30 miles,” Konyukhov Jr. noted. “On Sunday, a pod of whales pass by his boat. They behaved peacefully and did not bother him a bit.” Konyukhov sailed off onboard his Turgoyak rowboat from the Chilean port of Concon on December 22, 2013, heading for Australia’s Brisbane. The captain had set the aim to cross the Pacific, covering a distance of more than 9,300 nautical miles (more than 17,200 kilometres) in 200 days. The voyage proceeds under the aegis of the Russian Geographical Society, while Itar-Tass is among its information partners. Fyodor Konyukhov, an artist by profession who was ordained as a Russian Orthodox priest in December 2010 has many spectacular exploits to his credit. Their incomplete list includes two ascents to Mount Everest and ascents to the highest peaks of all other continents, a voyage across the Atlantic in a single-row boat in 46 days, the crossing of an 800 km distance in Greenland within about 16 days, several trips to the North Pole, several solo circumnavigation tours, and a singlehanded nonstop tour around Antarctica. Learn more on itar-tass.com