Karlis Bardelis spent two years crossing the Pacific to successfully become the first person to row from South America to the Asian mainland. But his celebrations were tempered, as he is now stuck on his boat awaiting special permission to enter Malaysia, which is closed to travellers until August 31 due to coronavirus. “I was monitoring the situation, and even though I saw the new rules, I could not change the situation. Where could I go? I had no motor, no sail and food supplies calculated to reach Malaysia. It's not like I could say “OK, I'll go to New Zealand,” the 34-year old Latvian said, who is currently tied to the dock and hoping to be allowed on land in the next week. Bardelis departed in July 2018 and rowed for 140 days to Hiva Oa, a tiny island in the Marquesas Islands, and then another two months to Tuvalu. He then rowed to the Solomon Islands. Bardelis finally reached Asia in January, making landfall in Papua New Guinea, despite being rammed by sharks as he neared the coast . To make the Asian mainland, he travelled through the Indonesian archipelago. His last stop was Sulawesi, Indonesia, which he left on February 29 before the travel restrictions were in place. “I’d be crazy to spend two years rowing an ocean just so I could cross the finish line. This whole journey and experience has been amazing. But of course, when something is in your mind, you think about it,” he said. 28.06.2020 around 17:00 (UTC+8) Malaysian time and 13:00 Latvian time I will start to row ♂️across Malacca strait... Posted by Bored of Borders on Saturday, 27 June 2020 “When something is in your mind for so long and then you reach it, it is strange. There is no emptiness, as I hear from some adventurers who reach their goal. I have so many ideas of what I want to do, and I have some friends and family I haven't seen for two and a half years since I left Latvia. There are so many things I want to do, there is no emptiness, just optimism,” he said. The last stretch of the journey was very different to the first year and a half. The strong tides and coastlines of the archipelago presented unique challenges. In ocean rowing, usually there is nothing to hit and no tides to battle with. From shark attacks to pirates: fearless adventurer rowing from Peru to Malaysia “Ocean rowing is cool and ... well, not chilled out, but you just set your rudder and go to sleep. But here, these tidal currents, it's a completely different story,” he said. Bardelis would have to drop anchor at night and study tidal charts. But when his anchor got stuck on coral and he had to swim 10m down to unhook it, he decided to set a shorter anchor line, despite the standard advice being to have a rope three times the length of your boat. The shorter line proved to be an issue. “One week ago, I was anchored in a place where the tidal currents during the night went the same way as the wind. It was double the force,” he said. “During the night the tide started to push the boat. After a couple of hours of being rocked round the anchor broke in half. It was a metal anchor but it was snapped. I was drifting in an uncontrollable direction, and it was pretty scary.” Never thought that I took this old watermaker for this kind of purpose, well, I guess it will do the job. Why? Check the... Posted by Bored of Borders on Friday, 19 June 2020 In the dark, he was unsure if the wind would push him onto the coast or against a cliff. Without an anchor, he had to improvise. “I needed to figure out a second anchor. Usually ocean rowers don't have spare anchors because we don't need one on the ocean. I had a spare old water maker, which cost €3,500 Euros (HK$30,500) when it's new. You don't want to throw equipment that is the cost of a car just for an anchor, but if it's a question of staying alive, of course it goes overboard. I had it on the end of the line and was ready to use it,” he said. Eventually the sun rose and Bardelis was able to start paddling again as the tide died down. He soon replaced the water maker with another bit of heavy equipment, but it was not a great substitute for an anchor. American spends 336 days alone at sea rowing Pacific – before ‘hectic’ beach arrival Another challenge on the final leg was crossing the Malacca and Singapore straits, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. Bardelis was uncomfortably close to huge container ships and at one point was surrounded by three of them. In the Pacific he would never dream of coming close to one, but here he was within 120m of massive vessels. “Someone might think that 120m is not big deal, but in marine traffic that's like someone sitting on your lap. In that moment, you don't have time to be scared. You're in the middle of this festival,” Bardelis said. “There was a strong wind from the South, and the tidal conditions were really complicated. I was really focused on what I needed to do and kept this focus until I was on the other side of the strait.” It is hard to believe after so much time aboard, the whole thing is ending. “It’s kind of a miracle that it happened, but at the same time, it's not like I was just lying in the boat and drifted to Malaysia,” he added. “I woke up every morning, rowed, kept the course and that's what I was doing for two years. Some forces helped me, some pushed me back, but with it all, I am happy.”