Day 2 to Kamchatka
Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Thu 30 Jun 2016 10:36
POS 43:24.6N 145:49.2E
Goyomay Channel, June 29
First hours into Russia, racing down the sea-highway doing crazy speeds, we face road rage from a local fisherman. Most probably annoyed by our superb 5 kts speed.
Suffice to say we were pulled over few minutes later, by a Russian warship followed by the Coast Guard (no pictures available since this was a secret operation). After some highspeed chase (about 5 knt) we were ordered to a full stop and boarded by 5 officials with guns and Kalichnikov rifles, under the sight of the torpedo launcher warship.
After long incomprehensible discussions in Russian, Swedish,upset Portugues, Getman and Scand-lish, we still didn't know what was going on.
We felt like VIP's. Our pictures taken from all possible angles, paperwork scrutinized and ahaaaa..... A possible illegal passenger. A passport with no Russian Visa. A lot of radio communication ... inquires and interrogation - no torture applied. Turns out it is a passport from a Russia friendly nation. Dilma-land. Brazil has signed a treaty in 2010 and Tøntøn was worried that while at sea the corrupt brazilian government has fallen and the treaty cancelled. "I saw myself at the Gulag on potatos and cabbage".
Ivan in charge of the permits and Russian planning, presented them with "the folder". Now photocopies had to be made. Quick run to the Coast Guard ship. Took them a long time. Guess they must have run of of toner kkkkk.
It seems we have infringed some route rule by making a different entry into Russian waters. Some rebellious viking decision, that might put us on a long term cabbage and potatoes diet at a 5 bullet Resort Gulag in Siberia. Urban started to worry about no knäckebröd and cheese for a while. Looks like we are going to be fined or send to Siberia. It has taken hours to sort this out and the the feeling persisted we were either going to jail or deported.
Clandestine communications from the washroom kept our agents informed and working the back channels. After 10 hours adrift a long report was issued detailing all laws we have broken and we were fined €27 and let go, under strict order to report our position daily and keep the original approved track.
All is well and we are keeping the rebel to the original track on a democratic decision. 2 votes against the rebel and one absentee.
The Kuril Gang Busters