MOOLOOLABA (Australia), May 31. (Itar-Tass) - Well-known Russian traveler and priest Fyodor Konyukhov has completed his solo voyage in the rowboat Turgoyak across the Pacific and reached the coast of Australia.
Konyukhov, who is now 62, sailed off on board the Turgoyak 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 kilometers) in 200 days.
Oceanic winds and currents carried him down from the original course, so Konyukhov chose another landmark 100 kilometers north of Brisbane and finished in the township of Mooloolaba, Queensland, today. He completed his distance in 160 days.
The International Ocean Rowing Society reported that the previous best solo achievement in crossing the Pacific on board a rowboat in its southern half was 273 days. The result was shown by Britain’s 52-year-old Jim Shekhdar in 2000-2001.
Konyukhov’s voyage proceeded under the aegis of the Russian Geographical Society, while Itar-Tass was 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 dog sleigh 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.