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Russian sea explorer trains in Chile ahead of Pacific row

Konyukhov has already conquered vast sea distances in a rowing boat

© ITAR-TASS/Valery Bushukhin

VLADIVOSTOK, December 02, 12:42 /ITAR-TASS/. Famous Russian explorer, artist and writer Fyodor Konyukhov has started training in the Chilean port of Valparaнso ahead of an attempt to row across the Pacific Ocean.

His English-built boat Turgoyak was launched in the Pacific on December 1, the traveller’s son, Oskar Konyukhov, told Itar-Tass from Valparaнso.

Konyukhov started training on the same day, to battle trying conditions. But allaying his fears, the boat moved confidently at 2-2.5 knots against a 20-knot headwind.

On his way from Chile to Australia, Konyukhov hopes for support in the Humboldt Current, also known as the Peru Current, where a 9-metre boat can move at an average speed of 3.5-4 knots.

Intensive training and testing of Turgoyak’s equipment is starting on Monday. Konyukhov plans to go to sea to train morning, afternoon and even at night to test the boat under all possible time and weather conditions.

The journey will start in 10 days from the Chilean coast. The explorer hopes to cover the 9,000-mile distance in 200 days.

Konyukhov has already conquered vast sea distances in a rowing boat. In 2002, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 46 days on his boat Uralaz, setting a world record. His best daily passages covered 100 miles.

Konyukhov's new boat takes its name from nature, a lake in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia’s Urals.

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