On the morning of November 7, the circumnavigation expedition of the Tomsk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society went out into the ocean once more. Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Berezkin continue their journey along the path of the famous Russian navigators two months after the shark attack in the Pacific Ocean. Further sailing will take place on the sailing boat Russian Ocean Way.
In early September, the circumnavigators almost died after being attacked by deep-sea Brazilian sharks. The coordinated actions of the crew and the coastal staff made it possible to avoid tragic consequences, but the inflatable catamaran was lost. It was not possible to find a vessel of the same class in Australia; the crew decided to continue the expedition on a sailboat with a solid hull.
The search for a suitable sailing boat took a month. The main burden of choosing a vessel fell on Captain Stanislav Berezkin, who visited 15 marinas in South and Central Australia. At the same time, the head of the expedition, Evgeny Kovalevsky, and the chief of the coastal staff, Yulia Kalyuzhnaya, within the framework of the "people's diplomacy" program, held a number of meetings with compatriots and residents of Australia, local schoolchildren, telling them about Russia, about their circumnavigation, its goals and, of course, about adventures in sailing.
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“We have figured out how to continue the expedition after the shark attack on the catamaran in the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia and the loss of the catamaran. There is a boat. The boat has the necessary equipment, water, food. Without the help of compatriots living in Australia, it would have been impossible! To everyone who helped us, you have our deepest gratitude! Special thanks for the sailboat to a Tomsk philanthropist. The boat is wonderful. The head of the coastal staff, Yulia Kalyuzhnaya, spent all the tense days of getting out of a critical situation in Australia with the crew and flew to Russia on November 6. Our crew, Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Berezkin, leaves the Townsville Yacht Club in Australia on Tuesday, November 7. We will go along the coast of Australia to the north in the direction of Cape York. From there we plan to go to Bali. By the New Year – to Thailand, then across the Indian Ocean,” said Evgeny Kovalevsky.
Australian friends saw off Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Berezkin. The head of the coastal headquarters, Yulia Kalyuzhnaya, flew to Russia. The main task for the near future is to prepare a new "Lesson from the Ocean", which will take place on December 4.
The crew of the Russian Ocean Way expedition expresses its sincere gratitude to the Tomsk resident Denis Stengelov for the strategic support of the expedition, to compatriots and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Australia for the help and assistance to the crew. The round-the-world expedition "Following the paths of Russian explorers" continues!