In his 60s, traveler Alexander Provatorov from Barnaul has visited dozens of expeditions, conquered the five highest peaks of all parts of the world, except Australia and Antarctica. But the last time I went sailing was in 2008, when I crossed the Indian Ocean on a catamaran. Every year, the big water called the man more and more, and as a result, he offered his friend Andrey Svetashov from St. Petersburg a trip that he could not refuse – to cross the Atlantic.
“I had to lie down in a wet sleeping bag”
For their trip, the friends bought a used catamaran and improved it a little by installing a powerful motor. The cabin was replaced by a tent with sleeping bags, which was fixed on board. Before going on a long voyage, the enthusiasts checked their vessel on Lake Ladoga and the Black Sea. On Ladoga, as Alexander told our colleagues from the publication NGS22.RU they “froze like gophers, but the boat passed the test.”
After the test drive, the men flew to Morocco, bought 160 liters of water, vegetables, sausage and other products at the store, waited for their watercraft to be delivered to the port of Agadir, assembled it in a couple of days and went on a trip.
Crossing the Atlantic turned out to be no idle tourist fun. Friends kept watch at the helm every four hours, tracked the route, monitored the condition of the sails, fought storms from the first day (the height of the waves reached five meters), almost capsized several times.
“When there was a good storm, especially a counter one, absolutely everything was wet. No matter how hard they tried, the tent was laced from different sides, it doesn’t matter. You can’t do anything in such a lightweight structure, because a yacht of the same size weighs 10-20 tons, and our catamaran is only 800 kilograms. I often had to lie down in a wet sleeping bag.”
Alexander Provatorov
traveler
When there were no storms, the travelers were scorched by the hot sun. Therefore, the rare days when it rained were a real salvation for friends — they could at least wash under warm fresh water.
It didn’t work out with fishing
During the trip, the men repeatedly saw six-meter swordfish, killer whales, and schools of dolphins overboard. A couple of times friends tried to fish, but the bait was eaten every time by large inhabitants of the ocean, so they gave up on fishing. But thanks to the food supplies, they did not stay hungry.
Meals on the catamaran were on schedule. For breakfast, the comrades ate scrambled eggs, cheese, sandwiches and coffee, for lunch — fried potatoes or soup. The gas stove, which the travelers took with them, helped out in cooking.
Naturally, such a diet was less nutritious than the usual urban diet, and in the 23 days of travel that the men traveled from Morocco to Brazil, they both lost 10 kilograms.
How much does it cost to travel across the Atlantic
The trip cost the friends three million rubles. More than 200 thousand of them were spent on an outboard motor.
“Everyone is surprised that this is very little. We can’t believe it ourselves. We are businessmen, so there were no difficulties with money,” admitted Alexander Provatorov.
During their trip, the friends stopped only once — to restock in Cape Verde. According to Alexander, they first of all wanted to test themselves and complete the route in the shortest possible time. Therefore, there was no time to rest. Although I really wanted to. For example, travelers passed near the Canary Islands, and they really wanted to stay there.
But as a result, it turned out to rest only upon arrival home. Having laid out his things, Alexander lay down to take a nap, and woke up only 21 hours later.
For those who would also like to go on a similar trip, the man advises not to be afraid of anything — according to him, fear always remains on the shore, and there is simply no time to be afraid on the way.
Fans of organized travel today can also find unbroken offers. For example, not so long ago, a Russian told about a ski tour to North Korea: according to him, it is a teleport to a parallel reality.
The author of the text:Ilya Nenko
According to the materials NGS22.RU .