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02.12.2002
Chronology of the finish
Oscar Konyukhov
Port St. Charles
Barbados
One day has already gone by since Fedor crossed the finish line. However, over the last 24 hours we have not been able to have a long conversation with Fedor, but I will retell the chronology of the finish.
We went out on the Sunday, December 1st, at 3:30 a.m. Barbados local time on the sports cutter "Desperado" owned by Thomas Herbert.
The last coordinates we received were reported by the press secretary of the Ocean Rowing Society, Tatyana Rezvaya-Crutchlow, over the satellite telephone while we were already in the ocean. According to the data, Fedor was located 9 miles from us.
The captain of the boat "Desperado", Thomas, switched on all of the lights and projectors on board and we moved along at 6-7 knots against the ocean waves and wind in search of the "URALAZ" boat. One after another, everyone on board grabbed the radio receiver and over channel 16 asked for Fedor: there was silence in return. We knew that the "URALAZ" boat had a portable radio; however its operating distance according to the instructions was only five miles on smooth waters. In the ocean with two- to three-meter waves, the "URALAZ" boat was not within earshot.
And suddenly around 5:30 in the morning when Fedor's wife, Irina Konyukhov, was calling him, we heard, "Yes, I hear you." It was Fedor. He reported his coordinates to us and our cutter headed in that direction. In 30 minutes we spotted the strobe-light from the "URALAZ" boat and in another 10 minutes we spotted Fedor.
We have to say that he looked in excellent condition: tanned, fit, and happy-go-lucky. After a short conversation, we agreed that he would continue rowing towards Port St. Charles and we would accompany him. The rounding of the Northern point of Barbados was successful and Fedor just needed to go down along the Western shores to the Port of St. Charles.
At 11:00 local time, he entered the port and Thomas Herbert suggested to Fedor to become the first oarsman to cross under the newly built bridge joining the port with the man-made island where the customs office is located. Thus, we escorted Fedor's boat for about five hours and the average speed was approximately three miles per hour. According to the Ocean Rowing Society's data, the crossing took 46 days and four hours, which is 11 days better than the previous ratings.
The customs formalities took no more than 20 minutes and in half an hour after the finish Fedor dove into the pool with fresh water in the living complex of Port St. Charles.
Fedor Konyukhov’s Expedition Headquarters, e-mail: oscar@konyukhov.ru
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| Project General Sponsor UralAZ www.uralaz.ru RusPromAvto www.sibal.ru |
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| Project Coordinator http://www.oceanrowing.com/ |
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| Official Supplier of Navigation Systems http://www.czar.ru/ |
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| ITAR-TASS http://www.itar-tass.com/ |
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| "Kommersant" http://www.kommersant.ru/ |
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| Radio "Mayak" (Extreme Series) http://www.radiomayak.ru/ |
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| Radio "Chanson" http://www.chanson.ru/ |
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| Official Internet Partnership ADT Web Solutions http://www.adt.ru |
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| Yacht Club, Restaurant “Pyaty Okean” www.fifth-ocean.ru |
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