Famous Traveller Fr Fyodor Konyukhov to Plant Orthodox Cross Made By Belarusian Artisans at North Pole.

______________________________

The famous traveller Fr Fyodor Konyukhov will take an Orthodox cross with him on his new expedition. He’ll travel 4,000 kilometres (2,486 miles) by dog sled, to become the first man to pass over the North Pole to the other side of the Arctic Circle using this method. The cross will go to Moscow next week where the famous traveller Fr Fyodor Konyukhov will take possession of it. Konyukhov has made four around-the-world trips and more than 50 unique marine expeditions. The new expedition’s kickoff is due in April 2013. Konyukhov expects to complete his new expedition in August. Together with the Karelian traveller Viktor Simonov, Konyukhov will traverse the Arctic region.

Fr Vladimir, a parish priest at Epiphany church in Minsk, who carved the North Pole cross, said, “The idea to plant Orthodox crosses in remote locations is an old one. One of the crosses made in Bobruisk by Fr Fyodor’s friends is at Cape Horn in Chile; the other is in the mountains in Ethiopia”. Konyukhov will plant the new cross near the site where all the Earth’s meridians and time zones converge. Fr Fyodor spoke about the idea of leaving an Orthodox cross at the North Pole in an exclusive interview to our channel in November.

Fr Fyodor Konyukhov not only has spiritual connections with Belarus, but also secular ones. Forty years ago, he studied woodcarving in Bobruisk. Now, he’s not just an artist and a traveller, but also a priest. Konyukhov brought a charity exhibition of his paintings to Minsk. All the funds raised were for the construction of the Epiphany Church in the Loshitsa district of Minsk. It took Fr Vladimir, who’s been a woodcarver for many years, about two months to create the cross. Its height is 2.4 metres (7.9 feet) and it’s made of wood specially brought from Irkutsk Oblast in Russia. Fr Vladimir made two identical crosses. One will go with Konyukhov to the North Pole, and the other will remain in Epiphany church in Minsk. Today, you can see the second cross at Epiphany church.

8 February 2013

BelTelRadio

http://www.tvr.by/rus/society.asp?id=82692

 

Advertisement

VOR Presents… Sixteen-Year-Old Laura Dekker Completes Solo Circumnavigation

******

******

Laura Dekker is the world’s youngest solo circumnavigator, who sailed alone around the globe. Laura embarked on her solo voyage from the Caribbean island of St Maarten on 20 January 2011, and returned unscathed a year and a day later. In the second image above, we see Laura’s yacht Guppy in St Maarten at the end of her voyage.

******

******

******

Teen captain Laura Dekker sailed 27,000 nautical miles on her 11.5-metre (38-foot) sailboat Guppy. On 21 January 2012, her boat docked in  the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean.

******

******

******

A small fleet of vessels and Coast Guard vessels met the young adventurer at the harbour at St Maarten; she finally reunited with her parents later at a formal party in a local yacht club.

******

******

******

******

16-year-old Laura Dekker meets her mother, father, and sister upon arrival in St Martin after her solo trip around the world.

******

Laura Dekker was born 20 September 1995 in New Zealand, when her parents were making a round-the globe-journey of their own, and spent the first four years of her life at sea.

******

Laura’s an experienced yachtswoman. She first sailed on the open sea when she was six, and she nurtured the dream of sailing solo around the globe since the age of ten.

******

******

******

Laura announced her plan to embark on a solo round-the world voyage when she was 14. However, the Dutch Council for Child Care spoke out against the risky adventure, issuing an injunction prohibiting her from making vital decisions and putting her under state and psychiatric care. In December 2009, Laura violated the court’s decision and ran off to St Maarten, where the authorities apprehended her and brought her back home. In the image above, we see the Guppy at the end of Laura’s adventure.

******

In July 2010, a Dutch court finally permitted Laura to make her solo round-the-globe journey. After completing preparations, the Guppy sailed from the Antilles on 20 January 2011.

******

Laura Dekker celebrated her sixteenth birthday at sea. Until recently, Australian Jessica Watson, 17, was considered the world’s youngest circumnavigator, having made a 210-day non-stop solo voyage around the world. Nevertheless, Laura’s record won’t make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, since officials refused to register records achieved by young navigators after Dekker’s 2009 fallout with social care services {if that isn’t “goodthinking” in the Orwellian sense, I don’t know what it is: editor}.

******

22/24 January 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/64513291/64517705/

http://rus.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/64381282/64381292/