Barbados Finish Line
The Bulgarian ocean rowing boat NEVEREST landed successfully in Barbados (Carribean islands) at 12pm local time today, October 6, 2020, after traveling 4,444 nautical myles (8,230 kilometers) in 105 days at sea. It stopped for 9 days in Lanzerote (Canary islands), so that the rowers Maxim Ivanov and...
Looking out for Barbados
Less than 100 nautical miles (185 km) to Barbados! Weve already climbed to the 13 degree North and given the current weather forecast we should not have a problem getting to this tiny speck of land in the ocean. https:my.yb.tl/neverest and https://neverest.travelmap.net По-малко от 100 морски мили (...
The Big Picture
Rowing nights on end under the moon makes you think about the big picture and contemplate your near and distant future Безкрайни гребни нощи под лунна светлина пораждат мисли за живота и съзерцаване на близкото и далечно бъдеще
A love story
If at some point you end up being stuck on a life raft for days on end and see a bird fly by you, don’t start jumping around for joy because you may still be hundreds of miles away from land. We’ve been seeing birds all along our ocean crossing and we even saw a couple when we were right in the midd...
Darik Radio interview
https://darikradio.bg/balgari-s-podvig-v-atlantika.html...
David
First time we see a human being and a sailing boat since we left Lanzarote 88 days ago. That is Davide and his boat Eileen of Avoca, who came with his dog and his cat from French Guyana to bring us food and a replacement IridiumGO - we are online again! Apparently, most other sailors are staying awa...
"Eileen of Avoca"
Оur food supplies are almost depleted even though the ocean has been generous and given us 11 big fish! We've been at sea for 94 days, while we had planned our expedition to take 60 - 90 days. Davide with his small sailing yacht "Eileen of Avoca" (and his crew of two - his cat and dog) are leaving t...
A Night Lit Up
Spent most of the night in thunderstorms steering away from lightings - first from the rowing seat and then, when the lightings got too close, from the cabin - using for the first time the Raymarine autopilot remote control device sent by Shiptechnics that we installed in Lanzerote. We attached the...
Black Marlin
A HUGE 3-4 meter long marlin caught up with us - one of the fastest fish in the ocean! !! While the top speed it reached was 7 knots (13 km/hr) when coming down a wave, these creatures can go up to 20 knots (36 km/hr)! At first we thought it was a shark, but later in the underwater video we took, we...
Fireflies and Plankton
On rare nights we run through fluorescent plankton which resembles lightning bugs scattered on the water surface that intensify their glitter when moved around. On cloudless nights rowing through it feels like piloting a space ship with stars all around. The blades of the oars light up in balls of f...
Day 91
All good with us. Rowing steadily in less than perfect conditions, but making progress! Lets take a moment to remind ourselves of the important need for Organ Donorship after death in Bulgaria and around the world! До тук сме добре! Гребем в не напълно перфектни условия, но напредваме стабилно в пра...
Destination change
We've rowed 3,700 nautical miles (6,850km) and have at least 800 nm(1,500km) more to go:) Most of the countries around us are still in Covid19 lockdowns with no operating commercial flights. This has forced us to re-evaluate our destination plans again and change them to Barbados or Grenada. When re...
In between storms
The third tropical storm that passed north of us forced us to stay on sea anchor and pushed us back 36miles. It took us 3days of rowing with insane efforts against the wind and waves to recuperate the distance. We will make everything possible in the days ahead to steer away from the one shaping up...
Dolphine Dive
Second day on sea anchor due to head winds of 10 to 20+ knots caused by the tropical storm that is passing several hundred nautical miles north of us. Expecting we'll have to spend at least another two days like this before we can resume rowing. It's like déjà vue since we have been in this situatio...
St Elmo's Fire
During the night we were run over by a thunderstorm. As children we were told that if you count the seconds between a lightning and its thunder, you will know approximately how many kilometers away the lightning is hitting the Earth - one kilometer for every 3 seconds. Not sure if this measure is ac...
Currents
While in the doldrums our track on the charts looks more like a butterfly than a straight line. It has been physically and mentally daunting. We thought that when we reach 10.00'N we would free ourselves from the current which was pushing us back to the South East. Apparently not! So, we continued c...
RSS/Радио Свободна Европа
https://www.svobodnaevropa.bg/a/30828663.html
Tropical storm TEDDY day 1
Sept 15th: Rowing in the Atlantic during an above average active hurricane season finally led us face to face with a tropical storm!. Although warned ahead, we decided to sit it out, having faith that Neverest, which we built, is strong enough to withstand it. Tropical storm TEDDY (coincidently that...
Tropical storm TEDDY
Hurricane TEDDY has moved NW so we're pulling the oars again! For the first 8 hours while the bigger waves are hitting we're rowing without a rudder since our rudder & spare rudder are a bit fragile (broke 5 times since the start). Ураганът TEDDY се премести на Северозапад, затова отново подхванахме...
Satellite phone&Hotspot
Dear friends, our satellite phone with our hotspot (which enabled us to send daily posts and photos) stopped working a few days ago. Ocean humidity is brutal on technology. We are using now our second satellite connection through which we can make calls and send short texts, alas without photos. We...
Sea Anchor
Second day on sea anchor due to head winds of 10 to 20+ knots caused by the tropical storm that is passing several hundred nautical miles north of us. Expecting we'll have to spend at least another two days like this before we can resume rowing. It's like déjà vue since we have been in this situatio...
Submarines
We haven't been rowing solo lately. For the past few weeks we have been escorted by an organized, structured and quite formidable fleet of at least 40 submarines. They have been protecting us from the continuous onslaught of flying fish each and every night (only letting a couple reach the boat) and...
Doldrum currents
For over a week we have been fighting a current which is flowing at 0.7.1.3 knots (1.3-2.3 km/hr) to the south east and hampering our progress to the west. When there is no current and no wind, we can maintain a speed of 2 - 2.5 knots (3.6- 4.5km/hour). As you might have seen on our YB tracker, with...
Birthday Thanks!
We had our most unforgettable birthdays on NEVEREST: caught our biggest mahi-mahi so far which Max filleted into the most tender sashimi; enjoyed the calmest mirror-flat waters; had the hottest times (38 C) which a double doze of tropical rain cooled down to 28 C (a black cloud poured down on us, mo...
Mahi mahi
Kole Kole, yummy yummy mahi mahi sashimi sashimi Коле Коле, ам ам дорадо, дорадо
Sunrise
Days, weeks and months before our departure for the Atlantic crossing, there was one thing that unsettled me the most about our upcoming voyage: the complete isolation and distance from civilization. I knew there will come a point where we will be so far away from land, that the astronauts on the In...
Winds
Our experienced navigators have informed us that the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone has moved quite a bit to the north - reaching a latitude of 10 degrees North (past our destination port of Cayenne, French Guyana which is at 5 degrees North) and bringing with it way to the north the massive South...
RadioBG
https://soundcloud.com/zhenie…/interview-neverest-17-08-2020
Temperatures
Several people were curious about the temperature around us: when we left Portimāo, Portugal, the water temperature was 18C and air was about 28C. Today, August 20th, slightly north of South America, at the latitude of 9 degrees North, the water is 28C. On a sunny day the air gets to about 34C insid...
Chicken Tikka
The moment when you find Chicken Tikka in the goodie bag!!! Момента, в който намираш Chicken Tikka (пиле Тика по индийски) в торбата за ядене!!!
Max and Stefan
There is a double birthday on board of NEVEREST today and tomorrow - August 24th (Stefan 48) and August 25th (Max 17). The party is in the middle of the Atlantic and everyone is welcome! The Ocean gave us its present early this morning - the biggest Mahi mahi so far - the sushi bar is therefore open...
Doldrums 2
Thank you for making our birthdays phenomenal! We are in the doldrums - the area between the paths of the northern and southern trade winds in the Atlantic where supposedly there should be no winds. The zone of the doldrums is not fixed but rather it expands or contracts and moves north and south, w...
Knife Fishing
When your fishing skills have improved so much, that you can catch your next fish with a knife...for real!🐟 Когато риболовните ви умения са се развили дотам, че да можете да ловите рибите с нож..без майтап!🐟 #Да!ЗаЖивот!
Day 55
Doldrums
These days we're having very light winds (<10knots) and tiny waves but the winds are constantly changing direction and at times blowing us back or sideways and bringing our speed to 1knot (1.8km/hr) or below. This is not dangerous, but it makes it difficult for us to keep a desired course and mak...
Breakfast
We kick start our day in a good mood with our favorite and most frequent breakfast "NEVEREST" - 130 gr porridge or müesli - 50 gr nuts - 50gr dried fruit - 50 gr peanut butter - 20 gr plant protein Mix with hot or cold water to achieve your preferred consistency and START ROWING! Започваме деня в до...
Q&A
QUESTION You talk a lot about the boat, the weather etc but what about your own health? How are your bodies coping, especially your hands? ANSWER: We started as absolute beginners 18 months ago, so we had to pile up a lot of rowing volume - we ended up doing well over 6,000km (the distance of our At...
Barnacles
I wonder why people give boats female names when they grow beards?!? The anti-fouling we had put on the hull was holding the growth down during the first month of having the boat in the water, but after that, we've had to scrape barnacles off every weak. Otherwise, rowing starts feeling like puling...
Turtle encounter
Finally - a sea creature slower than us!! Най-накрая - морско същество по-бавно от нас!!
Rudder issues
Houston, we had a problem...with the rudder. Its under control for now. Our rudder system consists of: a) fiberglass blade with NASA aqua-dynamic profile b) plastic case which attaches the blade to the stern of the boat via two metal pins c) metal frame which attaches the plastic case to either the...
Fish Soup
Flying fish continue jumping onto NEVEREST at night, probably attracted by the light on top of the boat. Most are smaller than 20 cm, but when this slightly bigger guy jumped next to our cooking pot, we decided to make fish soup. One of the rowers could not force himself to try it, while the other t...
Fixing Solar panels
Thank you for your incredible support, faith and motivation with which we kick start our days! The wind and waves calmed down a bit, so finally could climb on top of the front cabin and the back locker to try to repair the solar panels without much risk of falling over board or getting splashes of s...
Half way point
Feeling emboldened - after rowing 3,000 km (1,600 nautical miles) in 31 days we’ve just passed the halfway point of our voyage across the Atlantic! That is on average 97km a day or more than 100km if you consider that we were on sea anchor three nights due to the heavier weather. It’s aone ocean row...
Water pump
Rationing electricity forced us to stop using our electric water maker as well. Each of the rowers has been hand pumping for 1 - 1.5 hours the manual desalinator in addition to rowing 12 hours a day. That has been a draining experience. Max' says that this is actually good for us, since while in chr...
Hand steering
The oxidation of 3 of our 4 solar panels forced us to drastically reduce our electricity consumption. Thus, we had to switch off and remove our autopilot, which we were previously using 24/7 to manage the rudder and keep us on course as well as to immediately right the boat when a wave swings it to...
Solar panels
If you have read books or watched movies about sailors, you must have noticed that always something gets damaged or broken on their yachts and they are constantly trying to fix this or that. Well, we are no exception 😏. Two days ago we noticed that the monitors of our two batteries had dropped to a...
Orca day
These past days progress has been slow, challenging our patience and perseverance in 5knot winds. Moments like this remind us of our cause (stimulating discussion around organ donorship after death) in the name of which we decided to row across the ocean over 6000km - having a family discussion is v...
Portuguese man o'war
The Portuguese man o'war or Physalia is beautiful - it can be seen from afar on the water, as it's like a "sailboat" and floats on the sea surface, driven by winds and currents. Upon contact with its tentacles, the swimmer receives a severe burn, which causes excruciating pain. Other symptoms of poi...
day 32
Almost all day today we have a sensation that we are rowing downhill. We’ve had that sensation several times before and it is much more pleasant than the opposite one of rowing uphill, which we have also experienced a few times. Today the horizon, instead оf being far away and at the level of our ey...
Day 33
Shark!!! Finally we get visited by a shark. It was 2-3 meters long, maybe 4, at most 5 but definitely not more than 6:-) Our friend and navigator Ralph Tuijn (who has rowed across oceans nine times) had told us that sharks rarely attack ocean rowing boats. He had had numerous encounters with sharks,...
Day 26
Beginners luck - now is the second time we are throwing some hooks to trail behind the rowing boat 150км south of the Canaries and we catch our first:). Yippee!!! Kole Kole helped us prepare the fishing gear and gave us a few tips on ocean fishing the day before we left Sofia: a rubber bungee, a cor...
Day 25
Just completed 800 nautical miles (~1,500km) - roughly 1/4 of our planed ocean crossing. This gives us hope and confidence that we could make it till the end. Yesterday we were rowing in 20-22 knot winds and in “washing machine waves” - when we lived in Brazil that’s what our surfer friends called w...
Day 22
While stronger winds were blowing around Lanzarote in the past few days, we saw some of the natural beauty of the island. Tomorrow (Sunday, July 5th), shortly after sunrise we are setting off towards the deeper waters. We invite you to join us and have a discussion about organ donorship with your fa...
Day 21
Our adventures got some press coverage in the Bulgaria:-) https://www.dnevnik.bg/sport/2020/07/02/4086046_vpechatleniiata_na_bulgarite_ot_nachaloto_na_misiia
Day 19
While waiting in Lanzarote we've been busy repairing the leaking hatches - disassembling them and scraping off the silicone, which was supposedly suitable for yachts but apparently did not seal well. Hopefully we are using the appropriate polymer for this purpose now. Finally the autopilot parts arr...
Day 13
12am moored NEVEREST@ the Marina de Lanzarote just in time for lunch! Hitting the showers, restaurants and marine supply shops before they close for the weekend! It was a battle with the wind last night and had to change shifts every 1hr to keep the boat moving in the right direction while getting a...
Day 12
We are about 33nm Northeast of the Marina of Lanzarote. The northern winds are blowing at 18 - 21 knots and we still have a chance of making it there if conditions do not deteriorate. For the past several days we have been striving to strike the right balance between: - heading more West - which mea...
Day 11
120nm to Marina de Lanzarote in Arrecife to pick-up some devices for repairs. Coincidentally, on his first voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus also stopped in the Canaries for repairs on the rudder of one of the ships in his fleet:-) Our autopilot (the device that manages the rudder and ke...
Day 6
Rowing in moonless nights heightens the senses and made us witness a fascinating phenomenon in the darkness – a flying train of Christmas lights Was it a meteorite or something else? Гребането в безлунни нощи усилва сетивата и ни направи свидетели на уникално явление в тъмнината – летящ влак от коле...
Day 7
The spirit on Neverest is cautious and alert. We have a technical issue with the autopilot so we had to stop rowing during the night and we are working on resolving it. Once this is done we will be again on our way. Let us take this opportunity to remind you of our cause 😀– to stimulate conversatio...
Day 8
Moroccan Pirates? Nikolai Djambazov has been warning us several times, including yesterday, about Moroccan Pirates. Thank you, Captain! Last night when we were about 70nm from the coast of Morocco, two vessels started approaching us - one from the North and one from the South. When they got to appro...
Day 9
During our first night row in 20+knot winds and waves sometimes exceeding 5 meters, Max got thrown off his seat onto the deck by a rogue wave. One oar lock and one pin got twisted as one of the oars dug into the wave. No worries - we replaced them right away and continued rowing. We have more spare...
Day 4 / Ден 4
We finished crossing the ship lanes of Gibraltar. Saw dozens of ships of all kinds and sizes - none of them too close to pose a danger. We are counting on a passive radio reflector and especially on an AIS (Automated Identification System) transducer to alert us and other vessels approaching on a cr...
Day 3 / Ден 3
The ocean was a bit stirred last night and it was pitch dark - you literally could not see anything but the lit-up deck of the boat, so you had to row by instruments and your feeling about which way the boat was leaning. Thus, one of the rowers did the Technicolor yawn, but seems like he does not ha...
Day 1 / Ден 1
Set-off from Portimāo in calm waters and high spirits. After 4 hours of rowing, head winds from the west started building up and pushing us back to shore. In order to avoid getting smashed against the rocks, we deployed our parachute anchor from the bow of the boat. After several hours of rest and s...