Denis Gorbylev

Adventurer and record holder Denis Gorbylev is a man who solo rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. New challenges, hikes and trials of life are all in the personal blog and travel journal of the extreme athlete. Incredible stories from the first-person perspective.

2023

Denis Gorbylev is the first Russian to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a rowing boat under the Mainland — Mainland program, both as part of a crew and solo.

ROUTE

Portimão (Portugal) - Kourou (French Guiana)

time

66 days 20 hours 40 minutes

Currently, this is the fastest solo crossing, performed without support and calls at other ports, on the route Europe — South America (Mainland — Mainland).

The previous record for this route was set by Stein Hoff from Norway in 2002 — 96 days 12 hours 45 minutes.

During the crossing, a record was set for the maximum distance traveled solo in a rowing boat in one day: 116.9 nautical miles.

2021

In preparation for a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, a successful mountain climbing to Lenin Peak was completed together with Alexander Moroz — August 5, 2021 via Razdelnaya Peak.

2020

While crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a rowing boat, our team decided to climb Mount Elbrus. Unfortunately, we were not able to do this all together due to the pandemic and closed borders. This was the first time in my life that I visited an element that was completely new to me — the Mountains. That’s how the ocean led me to the mountains.

2019

Denis Gorbylev is the first Russian to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a rowing boat under the Mainland — Mainland program, both as part of a crew and alone.

Crew’s line-up

Ralph Tuijn

Netherlands

Niklas Persson

Sweden

Therese Lungrden

Sweden

Jacob Rothing

Norway

James Morissey

Ireland

Denis Gorbylev

Russia

The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by rowing boat took place from April 1, 2019 to May 21, 2019. The original plan was to complete the fastest crossing along the route Portimão (Portugal) — Remire-Montjoly (French Guiana) and break the record set by an international crew in 2017.

Due to problems with power generation, the crew was forced to desalinize the water using manual desalinators and not use the autopilot. After the batteries were completely discharged and the manual desalinators were broken, the crew was forced to go to the islands of Cape Verde. During the 24-hour stay, the equipment was repaired and the batteries were charged, after which the crew continued the journey and successfully finished in Remire-Montjoly.

As a result of the crossing, the Team of 5 nations was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as «The first Team of six to row from Europe to South America». And they set a time record for crossing the ocean: the route Trade Winds 2 Africa-South America — 26 days 9 hours 45 minutes.

ROUTE

Portugal (Portimão) — French Guiana (Remire-Montjoly)

2009

Crossing the Pacific Ocean by crew on the yacht «Trading Network Red Sales» along the route Auckland (New Zealand) — Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) via Cape Horn.

Crew’s line-up

Fedor Konyukhov
Oscar Konyukhov
Alexander Elistratov
Alexey Ignatiev

Russia

The crew of the Russian maxi yacht «Red Sales», which included Denis Gorbylev, sent a sea letter in a bottle on February 12, 2009, documenting the Russians' voyage. The message, which crossed the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, was discovered exactly three years later by an 83-year-old Australian professional diver.

Denis Gorbylev
Mikhail Elsin
Semyon Deyak
Andrey Semyonov

Russia

Marc McRae

Australia

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