If crossing the ocean by boat seems like a dubious and very risky undertaking to you, then you are probably a somewhat more reasonable person than the ten captains from our selection - they traveled around the world at sea and found themselves in the most life-threatening conditions.
1. Tahiti Nui I (1956)
In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl began studying the theory of human migration and decided to test it on himself: his most famous journey was the Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a raft in the image and likeness of the ancient Polynesians, to prove that this is possible.
But the French navigator Eric de Bishop did not have a very high opinion of Thor Heyerdahl's ideas and did not agree that the Peruvians crossed the Pacific Ocean and settled in Polynesia. Instead, de Bishop believed in a large Polynesian civilization that existed thousands of years before Christ and stretched as far east as Chile.
So de Bishop built a boat out of bamboo, intending to cross the Pacific Ocean and prove his theory: to achieve his goal, he first sailed south of the 40th parallel, better known as the “Roaring Fortieth” due to the almost constant hurricanes that raged in the region. winds. Experts delicately described this route as "suicidal", but to everyone's surprise, the boat survived the brutal storms of the southern seas and performed well in harsh conditions.
Halfway to South America, de Bishop's crew noticed that their raft was literally falling apart due to an infestation of shellfish called teredos. On the 199th day of the voyage, the raft began to sink, and de Bishop finally used a walkie-talkie to save him - this happened 240 km off the coast of South America.
2. Seven Sisters (1954)
Unlike de Bishop, William Willis did not have any complex academic theories - he just wanted to test his 61-year-old body at sea. He planned to sail alone on a balsa wood raft from Peru to American Samoa, but almost at the very beginning of the trip he encountered a terrible setback.
All the fresh water Willis took with him was contaminated, and he had to swim another 10,8 thousand km across the Pacific Ocean - Willis survived on rainwater, raw flour, condensed milk and small cups of sea water. During one particularly nasty storm, a large wave carried a 2.7-meter shark onto his Seven Sisters raft. Willis fought the shark and eventually threw it back into the ocean, but it severed an artery in his forearm, which the sailor somehow managed to stitch right on himself.
But nothing could compare (at least for Willis) with the fear of losing his cat companion: that is why, every time a stormy sea threw a cat overboard, the grizzled old sailor rushed after him and fought the Pacific Ocean to save his friend .
Miraculously, Willis, his cat and a raft the size of a living room reached American Samoa in excellent condition: they sailed 3,2 thousand km more than Thor Heyerdahl. For an encore, at the age of 70, Willis sailed on a raft from South America to Australia and this time managed to swim 17.7 thousand km.
3. Ra II (1970)
Kon-Tiki was not Thor Heyerdahl's only voyage: after crossing the Pacific to test his Peruvian theory of migration, the Norwegian set his sights on the Atlantic to test perhaps even more ancient maritime traditions.
It is believed that ancient Egyptian papyrus ships were only suitable for traveling along rivers, because such a fragile vessel would certainly have perished in a stormy sea. The tour proved that this criticism was fair by making the Ra I's maiden voyage from Africa to America - which ended with the boat taking on water and breaking apart.
But this did not stop Heyerdahl and his team: they built a second papyrus boat, this time with the participation of Bolivian shipbuilders who make similar boats for sailing on Lake Titicaca.
On Ra II, Heyerdahl successfully sailed from Morocco to Barbados (6,450 km) in 57 days: the journey is especially impressive considering that the ship lasted four times longer than scientists had expected.
4. Akali (1973)
“11 strangers who survived together on a raft” - you may have heard about this experiment by Santiago Genoves. He worked with Thor Heyerdahl's expeditions, and was struck by the idea that a small raft would be an ideal testing ground for studying human behavior - research subjects cannot hide their behavior on a piece of land with an area of \u200b\u200b12x7 m.
Genoves, more an anthropologist than a sailor, selected five male and six female volunteers from different cultures for a 101-day voyage from the Canary Islands to Mexico. Genoves compiled a questionnaire of 8,000 questions and answers based on the experiences of his study subjects.
Members of the Akali expedition survived incredible hardships - a suicide attempt, serious illness, hurricanes and shark attacks: it is not surprising that the young volunteers during this trip became bronzed from the tan and significantly improved their physical fitness. In addition, the volunteers relieved boredom during the trip through various sexual orgies, making agreements among themselves regarding their sexual activities.
5. Excalibur (1981)
Curtis and Kathleen Saville liked to take risks, so they decided to take a rowing boat across the Atlantic Ocean. The Savilles traveled to Morocco, but encountered a storm that forced them to sail through a war zone off the coast of the Spanish Sahara. But once the Savills reached the open ocean, Excalibur's small size allowed them to easily collect samples of small ocean life.
The Excalibur was only 7.6 m long, due to which sea water easily fell onto the deck, and this gave the couple the opportunity to see many luminous tiny creatures: the couple described many more specimens of this type than researchers of that time who remained on land could describe .
The Savilles arrived safely in Antigua after 83 days of almost constant paddling.
6. Phenicia (2007)
In 600 BC. e. Greek historian Herodotus wrote about a group of Phoenicians (Phenicia is a region in modern Syria and Lebanon) who sailed around Africa in three years. Since then, scientists have debated the possibility of such a trip, using as an argument the fact that travel around Africa was not undertaken until 1488. The source of doubt is simple: in order to move even a step, all Phoenician galleys needed wind, which constantly filled the sails throughout the journey.
In 2007, Philip Beale, an adventurer, historian and anthropologist, decided to confirm Herodotus's story: Beale used a similar Phoenician ship, built on the model of a wrecked Phoenician galley. The only modern addition on board was a tiny engine to avoid being towed out of the harbor, but otherwise Beale had a ship that sailed just like its ancient predecessor - poorly: without perfectly favorable winds, the ship simply drifted on the open ocean.
There were many problems: while trying to steer the ship, Beal broke nine rudders, and one day storms tore the ship's sail in two - the entire crew of 11 people jumped out of the ship, which was taking on water, in order to stay afloat. And since Beal had not equipped the ship with anything like a modern winch or pulley, the crew repaired the yard and re-set the sail by hand.
Two years later, with more than 27,000 km behind them, Beal and his crew managed to complete their trip, sailing through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden and narrowly avoiding the modern equivalent of the scurvy that must have been the scourge of that ancient Phoenician voyage.
7. Cork Raft (2002)
John Pollack came up with an absurd idea: President Clinton's former speech writer decided to build a boat out of wine corks—165,321 individual wine corks to be exact.
It took two years of planning, testing and labor, but he finally secured thousands of plugs with an ingenious system. What is the result? The result was a longboat like an ancient Viking vessel, and although the boat looked quite nice, it was almost uncontrollable - this made the cork raft's journey through Portugal difficult and unforgettable. Interestingly, Portugal is the largest supplier of cork in the world.
Pollack and several volunteers spent more than two weeks rowing down the Dor River to the sea: with the help of a passing tugboat, the crew was able to negotiate the bends in the river, and the cork raft completed its journey almost intact.
8. Starkell Canoe (1980–1982)
Don Starkell claimed that he could row more miles than any other person, and we're inclined to believe him: in one trip, Starkell added 19,999 to the rest of his miles. Starkell and his two sons carried their 6.4-metre canoe out of their Winnipeg home in 1980.
They sailed through the Red River in Mississippi, through the Gulf of Mexico, the Orinoco, and finally the Rio Negro. The two Starkells paddled in an open canoe all the way to the mouth of the Amazon: one of Starkell's sons, Jeff, abandoned the canoe in Mexico after suffering too many life-threatening injuries - they encountered a huge number of obstacles along the way.
Wild animals like snakes and sharks were, of course, dangerous, but in the end they became the least of Don Starkell's worries - Nicaraguan rebels, drug couriers and Honduran robbers caused much more problems for the rowers. 13 countries, 45 breaches and at least 15 capsizes later, the Starkells arrived at the mouth of the mighty Amazon River.
But officials believed in the heartbreaking story of the Canadians with great difficulty: the Starkells were barely able to collect the necessary documents, withstood a number of interviews in Venezuela and letters from various embassies, but their voyage was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest canoe journey.
9. Lehi IV (1958)
In the 1950s, only the lazy did not construct anthropological theories about ocean travel on rafts: theories about the pre-Columbian colonization of America were a dime a dozen, as were eccentrics willing to undertake dubious maritime ventures in order to support various theories.
Dever Baker was one such eccentric: after reading the Book of Mormon (the sacred text of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons) movement, Baker decided to prove that the Israelites sailed from the Red Sea to Central America and colonized the New World.
Without any archaeological evidence, Baker began building rafts to test his theories. Note the number "IV" after the word "Lehi" - Baker's first three boats were unsuccessful, but on the fourth attempt Baker finally created a wooden platform, which, however, was almost impossible to control.
Despite a host of problems with his ship, Baker set sail from Redondo Beach, Hawaii. The obvious question is, “What does this have to do with Israel and Central America?” Answer: none.
The pointlessness of this journey is beyond doubt, and incredible luck was that the traveler had constantly favorable winds, he did not experience a single serious storm, and a small crew of students helped make this Hawaiian trip a reality. The other main source of assistance was a Coast Guard cutter, which helped complete the trip by towing the Lehi IV to shore.
Lehi IV did nothing at all to advance anthropological theories, but of course Baker gained fame when his wife wrote a book about the journey from the perspective of the dog who swam with him.
10. Tahiti Nui II–III (1958)
Eric de Bishop did not give up after the failure of Tahiti Nui I: no, he built a new boat from cypress, which he launched in Chile, intending to sail to Polynesia.
At first glance, things were going quite well for the team of five people: by June, after two months of travel, the Tahiti Nui II sank only 20 cm, but by the end of June the boat had sunk a meter under water, and the crew was forced to take cover on the roof of the boat cabin. There was still another 650 km to sail before landing on the Marquesas Islands, when the team discovered that the boat was again covered with teredos mollusks, making countless holes in the wood.
The dissatisfaction of the crew members, some of whom managed to leave the expedition, the reduction in supplies and the fever did not do de Bishop any favors: by August the boat had traveled only 240 km and was barely staying afloat, but de Bishop recovered and he had a plan - “Tahiti Nui III".
He and the people who stayed with him built a new, smaller raft, using relatively intact logs and barrels of water: for a week, the crew tried to build a new boat, while trying to make the old one able to somehow float. They succeeded: the deck of the Tahiti Nui III was only 1.5 x 1.8 m, but the pathetic little vessel could nevertheless float, and the crew desperately clung to it as it was thrown through the stormy sea waves - to shore, to safety.
The Tahiti Nui III washed up on the Cook Islands, but unfortunately de Bishop did not survive the boat's collision with the reefs. However, thanks to his amazing ingenuity, his team made it to land and eventually escaped.
About a young guy named Tom Sower, who, together with a friend, tried to cross the Atlantic in a rowing boat, but was wrecked. Tom told us then that not many people in the whole world have accomplished this feat, and this turned out to be true. And especially few people dared to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone. From a small list (only 95 people on our entire planet), FURFUR selected a few particularly memorable cases when a traveler crossed the Atlantic completely alone.
John Fairfax
The first person in the world to dare to cross the Atlantic alone. His whole life, in general, foreshadowed such a turn of events: at the age of 13, he decided to live like Mowgli, and for this purpose he went to the Amazon jungle - and for some time he stayed like that, trading jaguar skins.
At the age of 22, he was strongly drawn to Argentina, where he spent his childhood. There was no money, so he rode there from San Francisco on a bicycle (he got to Venezuela), did some fraudulent business in Panama, tried to hide from the cooperators and finally got to Argentina, but on horseback. When it came to the Atlantic, he was already 32 years old, and this test was not the worst. He later swam from San Francisco to Australia with his wife (the first woman who agreed to such madness), but that’s another story.
Tom McClean
Tom McClean crossed the Atlantic Ocean almost simultaneously with Fairfax - literally four months later, but from east to west. True, Tom is also known for repeating the feat in 1982, but on a tiny boat just over three meters long. In subsequent years, Tom never calmed down and crossed the Atlantic five more times, despite the fact that his wife and two children were waiting for him on the shore. In general, a desperate guy.
Amir Khan Klink
As for the southern part of the Atlantic, Amir Klink was the first to cross it. Especially for him, a Brazilian company developed and produced powdered freeze-dried food (a type of soft-dried canned food in which it is frozen, from there it is placed in a vacuum chamber, where the solvent is removed or sublimated from it. - Note ed.) so that he could feed in the open ocean, like an astronaut in outer space.
In 2002, he was tired of the memories of the feat accomplished in the south, so he turned 180 degrees and traveled around the Arctic Circle. And he was also the very first to do this, because this route had not been explored by anyone before. He wrote many books about his travels and is still alive and well.
Tory Murden
The first woman to sail solo across the Atlantic in a rowing boat. She prefers to call herself not a traveler, but a discoverer. Despite the very natural science interest that this adventure represents, Tori Murden is, as they say, a humanist - a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's degree in theology, and a master's degree in fine arts. In short, with such baggage, of course, there is nothing to do on solid ground, so, having graduated from all her universities, at the age of 36 she got into a boat and sailed across the ocean.
Theodor Rezvoy
This proud Odessa resident is the first person from the CIS to travel across the Atlantic on a rowing boat. Like any normal Soviet person, Theodor attended sports sections and clubs in all possible disciplines. Therefore, by the time of his journey, he turned out to be a professional athlete, artist, sailor and, probably, a wonderful person. Theodore crossed the Atlantic 14th in the world (among single swimmers).
Fedor Konyukhov
During his 62 years, Fyodor Konyukhov sailed around the world four times and crossed the Atlantic 15 times. Of these, one time was on a rowing boat (and it is believed that this is the best result on a classic boat).
Member of the Russian Academy of Arts (wrote more than four thousand paintings), the Writers' Union (he already has nine books to his name), sea captain, honorary citizen of nine regions of the world, the first Russian to conquer the Grand Slam (North and South Poles, Everest).
In short, if you set yourself the goal of surpassing Fedor Konyukhov in terms of adventures and achievements on a global scale, then you need to start earlier, at about five years old.
Charles Hedrich
This enterprising Frenchman set a world record for the fastest solo swim across the Atlantic. His example as a whole shows how hot the fire of life burns in a person, which does not allow him to sit down for a second: he went on a solo trip to Antarctica (550 km, by the way), went to both poles, on ski expeditions to Kabul, to Everest, and so on further. He crossed the Atlantic several times, and did it twice: alone, without anyone else's help, and in the company of a friend, but without stopping.
Katie Spotz
To date, Katie is the youngest sailor to cross the Atlantic alone: she was only 22 years old when she ventured on this journey. It should be noted here that such a journey did not happen suddenly - at the age of 18, this girl from Ohio ran a marathon, some time later she rode five thousand kilometers across the States on a bicycle and became the first person to travel 566 km along the Allegheny River (this is such a healthy tributary of the Ohio River in Pennsylvania).
At the same time, Katie was working with two environmental charities and looking for ways to help the planet, so she decided that a rowboat across the Atlantic would be the best way to raise funds for the Blue Planet Run. And she turned out to be right - the trip brought the fund 150 thousand dollars.
It is not the harsh elements of the sea that kill shipwrecked people, but their own fears and weaknesses. To prove this, French doctor Alain Bombard crossed the Atlantic in an inflatable boat, without food or water.
In May 1951, the French trawler Notre-Dame de Peyrags set sail from the port of Equiem. At night, the ship lost its course and was thrown onto the ledge of the Carnot Pier by the waves. The ship sank, but almost the entire crew managed to put on vests and leave the ship. The sailors had to swim a short distance to get to the stairs on the wall of the pier. Imagine the surprise of the port doctor Alain Bombard when in the morning rescuers pulled 43 corpses ashore! People who found themselves in the water simply saw no point in fighting the elements and drowned while remaining afloat.
Stock of knowledge
The doctor who witnessed the tragedy could not boast of much experience. He was only twenty-six years old. While still studying at the university, Alain was interested in the capabilities of the human body in extreme conditions. He collected a lot of documented facts when daredevils remained alive on rafts and boats, in cold and heat, with a flask of water and a can of canned food on the fifth, tenth and even thirtieth day after the crash. And then he put forward the version that it is not the sea that kills people, but their own fear and despair.The sea wolves only laughed at the arguments of yesterday’s student. “Boy, you’ve only seen the sea from the pier, and yet you’re interfering with serious issues,” the ship’s doctors arrogantly declared. And then Bombar decided to experimentally prove that he was right. He conceived a voyage that would be as close as possible to the conditions of a sea disaster.
Before trying his hand, Alain decided to stock up on knowledge. The Frenchman spent six months, from October 1951 to March 1952, in the laboratories of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.
Alain Bombard with a hand press, which he used to squeeze the juice out of fish
He studied the chemical composition of sea water, types of plankton, and the structure of marine fish. The Frenchman learned that sea fish are more than half fresh water. And fish meat contains less salt than beef. This means, Bombar decided, you can quench your thirst with juice squeezed out of fish. He also found out that sea water is also suitable for drinking. True, in small doses. And the plankton that whales feed on is quite edible.
One on one with the ocean
Bombar attracted two more people with his adventurous idea. But due to the size of the rubber vessel (4.65 by 1.9 m), I took only one of them with me.Rubber boat “Heretic” - on it Alain Bombard went to conquer the elements
The boat itself was a tightly inflated rubber horseshoe, the ends of which were connected by a wooden stern. The bottom, on which the light wooden flooring (elani) lay, was also made of rubber. There were four inflatable floats on the sides. The boat was supposed to be accelerated by a quadrangular sail with an area of three square meters. The name of the ship was a match for the navigator himself - “Heretic”.
Bombard later wrote that the reason for choosing the name was that most people considered his idea “heresy”, not believing in the possibility of surviving by eating only seafood and salt water.
However, Bombar did take some things into the boat: a compass, a sextant, navigation books and photographic equipment. On board there was also a first aid kit, a box with water and food, which were sealed to prevent temptation. They were intended for the most extreme cases.
Alain's partner was to be the English yachtsman Jack Palmer. Together with him, Bombard made a test voyage on the Heretic from Monaco to the island of Minorca lasting seventeen days. The experimenters recalled that already on that voyage they experienced a deep sense of fear and helplessness in front of the elements. But everyone assessed the result of the campaign in their own way. Bombard was inspired by the victory of his will over the sea, and Palmer decided that he would not tempt fate twice. At the appointed time of departure, Palmer simply did not show up at the port, and Bomb Bar had to go to the Atlantic alone.
On October 19, 1952, a motor yacht towed the Heretic from the port of Puerto de la Luz in the Canary Islands to the ocean and unhooked the cable. The northeast trade wind blew into the small sail, and the Heretic set off towards the unknown.
It is worth noting that Bombard made the experiment more difficult by choosing voyages from Europe to America. In the middle of the 20th century, ocean routes lay hundreds of miles from Bombard’s path, and he simply did not have a chance to feed himself at the expense of good sailors.
Against nature
On one of the first nights of the voyage, Bombar was caught in a terrible storm. The boat filled with water, and only the floats kept it on the surface. The Frenchman tried to scoop out the water, but he did not have a ladle, and there was no point in doing it with his palms. I had to adapt my hat. By morning the sea had calmed down, and the traveler perked up.A week later, the wind tore the sail that was moving the boat. Bombar installed a new one, but half an hour later the wind blew it away into the waves. Alen had to repair the old one, and he floated under it for two months.
The traveler obtained food as he had planned. He tied a knife to a stick and with this “harpoon” killed his first prey - a sea bream fish. He made fishhooks from her bones. In the open ocean, the fish were unafraid and grabbed everything that fell into the water. The flying fish even flew into the boat itself, killing itself when it hit the sail. By morning, the Frenchman found up to fifteen dead fish in the boat.
Bombar's other "delicacy" was plankton, which tasted like krill paste but was unsightly. Occasionally birds were caught on the hook. The traveler ate them raw, throwing only feathers and bones overboard.
During the voyage, Alen drank sea water for seven days, and the rest of the time he squeezed the “juice” out of fish. It was also possible to collect the dew that settled on the sail in the morning. After almost a month of sailing, a gift from heaven awaited him - a downpour that gave fifteen liters of fresh water.
The extreme hike was difficult for him. The sun, salt and rough food led to the fact that the whole body (even under the nails) was covered with small ulcers. Bombar opened the abscesses, but they were in no hurry to heal. The skin on my legs also peeled off in shreds, and the nails on four of my fingers fell out. Being a doctor, Alain monitored his health and recorded everything in the ship's log.
When it rained for five days in a row, Bombar began to suffer greatly from excess humidity. Then, when there was no wind and heat, the Frenchman decided that these were his last hours and wrote his will. And when he was about to give his soul to God, the shore appeared on the horizon.
Having lost twenty-five kilograms of weight in sixty-five days of sailing, on December 22, 1952, Alain Bombard reached the island of Barbados. In addition to proving his theory of survival at sea, the Frenchman became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a rubber boat.
After the heroic voyage, the whole world recognized the name of Alain Bombard. But he himself considered the main result of this journey not to be the glory that fell. And the fact that throughout his life he received more than ten thousand letters, the authors of which thanked him with the words: “If it weren’t for your example, we would have died in the harsh waves of the sea.”
MOOLOOLABA /Australia/, May 31. /Special correspondent ITAR-TASS Pavel Vanichkin/. A Russian traveler has reached the coast of Australia. Thus, he managed to cross the Pacific Ocean alone on a rowing boat without visiting ports or outside help. The next project of the Russian traveler will be a hot air balloon flight around the Earth...
From the coast of Chile to Australia
Konyukhov started on December 22, 2013 from the port of Concon (Chile) at 09:15 am Chilean time, covered over 17 thousand km on a boat called "Turgoyak" and finished in the town of Mooloolaba (Queensland) at 13:13 Eastern time coast of Australia. "Turgoyak" has a length of 9 meters, a width of 1.8 meters, the weight of its body made of carbon fiber is 250 kg, and its weight when fully loaded is 850 kg.
As the International Society of Ocean Rowing reported from London, Konyukhov completed the journey in 160 days. According to the society, the previous best achievement of crossing the Pacific Ocean in a single rowing boat in the southern half was 273 days.
This result was shown by the 52-year-old English rower Jim Shekdar, who started on June 29, 2000 from the Peruvian port of Ilo. Jim also competed and finished on March 30, 2001 on North Stradbroke Island.
Initially, Konyukhov planned to cross the Pacific Ocean in 200 days and nights. It was reported that in order to cross the ocean, a traveler had to make 4 million strokes.
Flight around the Earth
“The ground is not very hard yet,” said Konyukhov, who stepped onto the shore. ITAR-TASS. His very first steps were indeed slightly hesitant, but literally after a few moments he was already able to walk without assistance.
After the triumphant finish, answering a question about plans for the future, Konyukhov said that he planned to make a non-stop flight around the Earth in a hot air balloon. He intends to start in Australia, fly from west to east approximately along the 40th latitude and finish again in Australia. However, the traveler categorically refused to say when this might happen. “I’ve been traveling for more than 40 years,” recalled Konyukhov. “Previously, I did it mainly for scientific purposes and out of sporting interests, but now I’m thinking about the younger generation, to whom I want to instill a spirit of romance. I want people to dream more.”
Answering a question from corr. ITAR-TASS, about the difficulties during the journey, Konyukhov said: “At first it was difficult, and then even more difficult.” “The main difficulty of this kind of test is its monotony,” the traveler continued the story. “Every day I tried to row for 18 hours, slept for 20-25 minutes, but no more than two and a half hours a day.” “On the other hand, I I walked with God's help - all the biggest hurricanes passed me by, the boat never capsized, favorable currents helped me.
Happy ending
I sent a greeting to Konyukhov, which was read by the Russian Ambassador to Australia Vladimir Morozov, who took part in the meeting of the Russian traveler in the city of Mooloolaba. About five hundred people gathered to meet the famous Russian traveler on the city beach - his friends, local residents, visiting tourists, and journalists.
“I am glad to congratulate you on the successful completion of the expedition “On a rowing boat across the Pacific Ocean,” says the president’s greeting. “This unique voyage was closely followed by your colleagues, scientists and experts, members of the Russian Geographical Society, and maritime enthusiasts from many countries. Thanks “With courage and perseverance, extraordinary human and professional qualities, you withstood difficult tests and conquered the water element.”
“Today we can say with confidence that the first solo trip in history on a rowing boat from the coast of Chile to Australia was successful. And you continued the wonderful traditions of the great Russian explorers and travelers who made a great contribution to the study of the World Ocean. I wish you all the best and the fulfillment of new plans," the president said in his greeting.
63-year-old priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Fyodor Konyukhov is the first person in the world who managed to reach the five poles of our planet: the North (three times), the South, the Pole of relative inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean (the height pole) and Cape Horn (the yachtsman's pole). Konyukhov became the first Russian to complete the “Seven Summits of the World” program - to climb the highest peak of each continent. He managed to cross now two oceans on a rowing boat. In 2002, he single-handedly crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a URALAZ rowing boat, setting a world record of 3 thousand nautical miles in 46 days.
Everyone has a great idea of what the ocean looks like. In its tranquility, the vast blue expanse fascinates and calms. It is not difficult to cross it using modern vehicles, be it ships or airplanes. But scientists have proven in practice more than once that it is possible to overcome the ocean using such a primitive device as a raft. A considerable number of feature films have been made based on such stories.
An interesting fact remains how the oceans were formed. After all, in the early periods of the development of our planet there were no continuous covers of water. The most likely theory put forward by scientists is the formation of oceans from steam that settled as the Earth cooled. The process took place hundreds of millions of years ago, and covered virtually the entire surface of the planet with ocean. Naturally, the available surface even then did not have a smooth surface and there were places with shallow seas.
Since it is impossible to survive in the ocean without fresh water, long-term existence on its surface, without special filters, is out of the question. The largest ocean in the world, the Pacific Ocean, has an average depth of almost four kilometers, and at its deepest points almost eleven kilometers. An interesting fact is that along the one hundred and eightieth meridian, which passes through the Pacific Ocean, the date changes.
Since the ocean is located relative to the equator between Eurasia and America, and having a length of twenty thousand kilometers, it is difficult to believe that such a giant can be overcome on a raft. Naturally, this is the largest of the oceans of our planet, but the smaller oceans - the Atlantic, Indian and Arctic - are surprising in their size.
For traveling across the ocean on a raft, much more modest goals are planned than reaching a diametrically opposite continent, or mainland. Before you cross the ocean on a raft, you need to become an expert in ocean currents. After all, it is this that will have the greatest influence on the upcoming route. But at the same time, it is also worth taking into account the direction of the main air flows, since when the sail is installed on the raft, they will make adjustments in the direction of movement.
For greater stability of the raft, it is necessary to establish a rule with which to also influence the course of navigation. To sail in the ocean on a raft, you should set an island as your goal, since the raft structure itself may not withstand the long-term influence of salt water. It is also important to determine the presence of reefs in the area of arrival, since successful mooring most often depends on their presence.
