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They paddle 97 kilometers a day, eating porridge and nuts. Maxim lost 14 kg and Stefan 10
After 105 days in the ocean, Maxim and Stefan Ivanovi entwine their legs when they feel the ground beneath them again. The two crossed the Atlantic with their ship NEVEREST, which they built themselves in their garage..
“We left the boat 10 meters off the coast of Barbados and jumped into the water to swim. The moment we stepped onto the sand, our legs began to get tangled, ”especially the“ 24-hour ”adventurers say. They both take a pebble as a souvenir and Max’s father returns to NEVEREST after 10-20 seconds on shore.
The Bulgarian rowboat arrived at the island of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea at 12 o’clock local time on October 6, 2020, after traveling 4,444 nautical miles (8,230 kilometers) in 105 days in the ocean.
yes
Bulgarian father and son
achieve place
three records
When they set sail on June 14, 2020 from Portimao, Portugal, Max was only 16 years and 293 days old, making him “the youngest ocean rower in the world to successfully cross the ocean,” according to the official expedition record of rowing by OceanRowingSociety.
This trip is also “Bulgaria’s first ocean rowing expedition” as well as “the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean with a rowboat from east to west during hurricane season (July – October)”.
During the entire period, the Bulgarians made a single stop for 9 days on the island of Lanzarote, Canary Islands, due to a technical problem.
“Neither Max nor I have rowed in our lives. Before we were on a boat not more than a few hours or a day, two, but close to shore,” says Stefan Ivanov after his arrival in the homeland.
“It was Max’s idea. One night it occurred to him:” Dad, how about crossing the Atlantic in a rowboat? ” Not even knowing if it was possible. It was more of a challenge for me, but we decided to do it together, “he said.
Only after the idea appeared did the two “meet” the oar. After their first attempt in September 2018 on Lake Pancharevo, they realized they would need a coach, so they came to our two-time world skiff champion Victoria Dimitrova. With him, the intensive training began in December of the same year, initially in a room and then in the water.
The Ivanovs have 4-6 training sessions a week while preparing, sometimes 2-3 times a day. However, for the past two months, due to isolation, they have been at home on the rowing machine.
“For years and
half past
2 times the distance
on a rowing machine,
but we didn’t have much experience in the water. We went to Greece and Burgas several times for similar trainings, but our longest boat trip was only 48 hours, ”says the 17-year-old student.
Max, like his father, often likes to change jobs. He coached rugby, karate, snowboard. Stefan, a former banker, is a fan of mountain running and participates in ultramarathons. He likes to pose different challenges.
Thus, 9 years ago he won the title of the second Bulgarian to cross the English Channel, after Petar Stoychev. However, Ivanov does it as a non-professional swimmer. “The coach trained me from scratch for 16 months,” he recalls.
In their new, this time a common adventure, father and son embark without hesitation. Initially, the two planned to cross the North Atlantic Ocean from Canada to Europe, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to change their route.
“We decided to make the boat ourselves with Max. Such boats have to be very resistant to storms and big waves, so we could not improvise with the design,” says Father Stefan.
So the two of them connected with the English naval architect Phil Morrison. He designed his container with a special design that the Ivanovs could make in their garage.
With the help of the guidance of two other people, Nikolai Dzhambazov and Stoyan Voyvodov, and without any technical education, a father and son managed to complete the construction of their ship in about 18 months. It measures 6.5 m long, about 2 m wide, has a cabin and 10 storage rooms, with all this both adventurers weigh about 1200 kg.
They come together with the name of the boat. The message it carries is “You never rest until you get to Everest” or “You never rest before you get to Everest.”
“With the team
the boat weighed
more than 1 ton
and that made it a bit difficult for us to move, ”Stefan recalls.
The first half of the trip went smoothly, but then the cyclones pushed the boat with a wind force of 10-20 knots, there were several meters of waves.
The Gulf Stream was very strong and they could not reach Brazil as an end point, as was the plan when leaving Portugal. It was also impossible to get to French Guiana due to north winds. Venezuela was closed. That is why they land in Barbados. “It turned out that we were doing something more complicated than we thought,” says Stefan.
In case of strong storms it is necessary to put a water anchor to avoid capsizing the boat. They then enter the cabin at the front of the boat, which is designed to sleep one, but in a storm they both fit inside. The temperature reaches 36 degrees, which requires ventilation every 2-3 hours. “There were nights when I didn’t sleep because I was so hot,” says Max.
They both remember that the only escape from the heat is to dive into the ocean. Stefan once found himself alongside a 4-meter marlin (a saltwater predatory fish described by Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea). The son yells at his father and he comes back on board. At another point, the shark NEVER got close and circled it several times, but thankfully, it then moved away. On their way, they also see killer whales.
The 17-year-old student says he also encountered pirates off the coast of Morocco. After one of his rowing shifts, he noticed on the cartographer that two boats were approaching them. “It was dingy, there were big waves, and they were about 3-4 miles apart and with their noses pointed at us. They both disappeared from the cartographer at the same time, which means that
deliberately hide
your location
from other vessels. I found out from their lamps that they were still closing in on us, so I turned off our AIS (automated identification system) and the lights. The waves were 4-5 meters, so our white boat was easily hiding among them, “says Max.
The hardest moment was when the steering wheel and the replacement steering wheel broke in a few days, in the middle of the road. His rudder is damaged a total of 6 times during the entire trip. “We had 2 to 6 spare devices for each part of the boat,” explains Stefan. Their binoculars turn out to be the most unnecessary, and both define the water pump as the most necessary item.
“3 of the 4 solar panels suddenly stopped working, which could not supply enough power for the autopilot and the seawater filtration machine. We had to purify the water by hand for a few days, ”they say.
Even before departure, the boat is modified so that it returns to its original position if it capsizes without filling with water through the hatches. The two are constantly tethered to NEVEREST, but once a big wave knocks Max off the deck seat at the end of the boat.
As they delay navigation, they receive additional food because their supplies were for 90 days.
They mainly consume freeze-dried foods, dried fruits, protein bars, and nuts. They learn to
only fish
with hook without bait
The most common breakfast is 130g of oatmeal with 50g of nuts and 50g of dried fruit and 50g of peanut butter.
During the entire trip, Max lost 14 kg and his father 10. To keep the boat in constant motion, the two alternate every 2 hours to row 24 hours. “These changes are endless. During the other 2 hours you have to organize everything else: food, hygiene, communication with the team, checking the weather forecast,” explains Stefan. Dizziness catches Max only twice.
The exercise is enormous and this leads to back pain, elbow swelling, knee popping. “Due to the big waves, the oars hit our hands and feet so hard that we finally got used to it and didn’t even feel it,” laughs Maxim.
An average of 12 hours a day of rowing is collected for everyone. Thus, the two sailors travel about 97 km per day. When there is no current and wind, they manage to maintain a speed of 2 knots (3.6 km / h). And they have about 5 hours to sleep in total between breaks.
There are days when the wind blows down the side of the boat and you row with one hand.
“We had a lot of time to think. What has changed in our country is that we have both calmed down, we pay more attention to the little things in life and to contact with our relatives, this is the most important thing”, answered Stefan to a question from “24 Chasa”. this adventure changed them.
The biggest
inspiration
for Max and
It’s stefan
the bell
“Yes!
For life”!
The expedition of Maxim and Stefan Ivanovi passed under the sign of a cause, behind which they both stand firm. This is the national campaign to support donation and transplantation, launched by the Ministry of Health – “Yes! For life!” His goal is to talk more and more about organ donation and to encourage more people to save lives by being potential donors after death. In addition, the two believe that it is necessary to make some legislative changes in the field of donation and transplantation, which have already been discussed with the Minister of Health, Prof. Kostadin Angelov.
Stefan and Maxim propose that the legislation be changed so that every citizen is considered a potential donor if he has not expressed a categorical refusal during his life. According to them, this way the consent of relatives will not be necessary, which means that they will not be burdened with the difficult decision to donate organs to a loved one who has suffered brain death.
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