Rowing Expedition Across Indian Ocean With Bulgarian Participation is Underway

Jerusalem, 18 May, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Sofia (BTA) – The “Untamed Ones,” as the four rowers of the boat “Rosa” are called, set off from the west coast of Australia across the Indian Ocean to Kenya, Africa. On board are Yevgeny Sudir from Ukraine, Louis Yong from China, Ralf Tuin from the Netherlands, owner and captain of the rowing boat, and Stefan Ivanov from Bulgaria, who is the expedition’s co-skipper. He reported that the transoceanic mission started from Carnarvon at exactly 5:00 p.m. local time on May 17 and the team is in excellent spirits.

The men will row around the clock for more than 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km), two by two, in two-hour shifts, so that everyone will be at the oars for 12 hours a day. In addition to picturesque sunsets and life-affirming sunrises, they will face winds from different directions, waves and currents, sharks and other dangerous fish, insomnia, risks of injury, pirates on the African coast…

The expedition is under the banner of The Explorers’ Club, which was founded more than a century ago in New York and supports scientific expeditions of the rank of reaching the North Pole in 1909 and the South Pole in 1911, the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, the deepest descent under the ocean surface and reaching the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and stepping on the Moon.

“We now feel like researchers, not so much adventurers,” said Stefan Ivanov before the trip. He specified that they will continue collecting samples from the ocean and provide them to scientists from the Faculty of Biology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” for their research on climate change and global warming.

The team will also row to encourage more people to get involved in protecting the Southern Ocean and to sign a petition calling on the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to declare 4 million sq km of new marine protected areas. The rowers are also supporting the Department of Health’s “ Yes! For Life! ” campaign, so that more people can decide for themselves and inform their loved ones whether they want to be organ donors for life-saving surgeries after their death.

According to Ivanov, crossing the Indian Ocean will take about 75 days.