ST. PETERSBURG, March 24. /TASS/. Russian adventurer Fyodor Konyukhov, who is making a solo journey from South America to Australia in a rowboat, has lost nearly all his communication devices in storms and is staying in touch with his expedition headquarters via a satellite phone, a spokesman told TASS.
"Regrettably, many antennae and other communications equipment were broken during several storms. At this point, he maintains daily contact with the headquarters via a satellite phone. The call may last just a minute, but over this period we manage to collect the basic information on his whereabouts, latitudes, coordinates, health condition and so on," a spokeswoman for Konyukhov’s expedition headquarters, Andrey Ivanov, said. "He is cheerful and optimistic, as usual."
Konyukhov previously announced that he plans to cover a distance of 18,000 kilometers in 200 days. In order to achieve this, he has to row 15 hours a day. The second stage of the circumnavigation in the Southern Ocean will take him to Australia. Konyukhov completed the first stage in 2018-2019. During that journey, he travelled 11,000 kilometers in 153 days.
His boat, Akros, is nine meters long and weighs 400 kilograms when empty. The Akros has watertight compartments to store food and equipment and provide a resting area. It is built to endure storms, robust enough to weather days when the boat is tossed around by waves and rolls over. It is equipped with manual and automatic water desalinators, satellite communications and solar panels. Supplies onboard include 100 kilograms of freeze-dried food, enough to provide 5,000 calories per day.