Fedor Konyukhov, 74, continues to push boundaries after abandoned boat found in Indian Ocean
Russian explorer Fedor Konyukhov, nearly 75, recently recovered his boat AKROS in Mauritius, 16 months after abandoning it in the Indian Ocean. The vessel was found adrift between Madagascar and Reunion before being towed to Port Louis and is now en route to Russia to be displayed in a museum. Konyukhov, an Orthodox priest, painter, writer, and adventurer, has dedicated his life to extraordinary expeditions. His latest major challenge was a solo circumnavigation of the Southern Hemisphere by rowboat. He departed from the Drake Passage in December 2024, aiming to connect South America to Australia. In March 2025, after 115 days at sea and over 6,000 nautical miles, multiple failures in AKROS's control and survival systems forced him to abandon the attempt. A Chinese bulk carrier rescued him on March 30, 2025. This marked the first time in his career that Konyukhov had to leave a boat behind. Despite the technical failure, he achieved a first by becoming the first person to row solo across the South Atlantic. Prior to this, in November 2025, Konyukhov established the world's first single-person seasonal station on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, where he conducted scientific experiments for four months until mid-March 2026. At 74, he became the oldest solo explorer to occupy a fixed post on the Antarctic continent. Konyukhov has a long history of achievements, including reaching the North Pole three times, the South Pole, the Arctic Ocean's pole of inaccessibil
