Russian seas and oceans travellers. Photo courtesy of Russian Cultural Centre
The Russian House in Cairo organized a thrilling meeting with a delegation of Russian travelers on their first visit to Egypt, on 18 February.
The delegation included captain Dmitry Kuznetsov, physicist and founder of the sailing school, boat captain Konstantin Vasiliev, who participates in the World Sailing Championships, and head of the scientific expedition yachtsman Vladimir Dudkin, an engineer and head of the scientific research department at the University of Moscow.
It also included sailor yachtsman Alexey Ignatiev, who has been practicing the hobby of traveling the seas and oceans for 30 years and visited 120 countries, and Nikita Konov, a director and cinematographer, who makes films about travelers of seas and oceans.
During the visit, the Russian voyaging team wanted to find new members for the Five Oceans Club. Moreover, besides describing the expeditions and difficulties they faced in the seas and oceans, they talked about the scientific activities that take place on board the sailboat, within the framework of cooperation with the Marine Research Centre at Moscow University.
Director of the Russian Cultural Centres in Egypt Marat Gatin opened the meeting with a welcome speech to the Russian travelers' delegation. Captain Kuznetsov presented them and talked about the most exciting adventures of sea travelers during the past two years since the founding of their Five Oceans Club. He said they visited 23 countries on four continents, participated in famous ship races, and covered nearly 30,000 nautical miles under sail.
"We went through moments of terror and danger while dealing with whales and sharks and the longest period of our presence in the water was 21 consecutive days," he noted.
"The most dangerous moment was in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait when we saw the launching of Houthi bombs and the attack by the American and British forces on the Yemeni shores. We made a quick decision to move away from the fighting sites," Kuznetsov added.
The meeting began with the screening of a rare documentary film about the adventures of the Five Oceans Club, accompanied by photos and video clips taken through the lens of the cinematographer Konov, who is in charge of recording the trip details with the camera.
In an appeal that Kuznetsov considered important, he and members of the Five Oceans Club called the countries of the world to preserve the environment, as they felt very sad to see, during their long trips in seas and oceans, a huge amount of plastic containers and wastes that expose the environment to great dangers.
Yachtsman Dudkin also spoke about the cooperation between the Five Oceans Club members and the research centre of Moscow State University in collecting samples from the seas, oceans, and rocks to contribute to the university’s scientific research activities.
The Five Oceans Club now includes 100 members from all over the world, including the famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov, who set a world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world, flying around the earth in a hot air balloon in 11 days, 4 hours, and 20 minutes, or 268 hours and 20 minutes.
In conclusion, Kuznetsov thanked the Egyptian youth and the media for the keen interest they have received since they arrived in Egypt.
Short link: