The 73-year-old is attempting a solo circumnavigation of the world, from Dunedin to Dunedin, in his rowing boat Akros.
He completed the first leg, from Dunedin to Cape Horn in Chile, in May 2019, and is now more than halfway through his second leg, from Cape Horn to Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia.
He has just passed south of South Africa where a constant stream of major cyclones has capsized his boat multiple times, damaging a lot of the equipment on board, including radio gear.
Mr Konyukhov’s support crew spent days waiting with concern to hear if he needed rescuing.
He has since been able to respond using satellite text messaging, saying the boat had been "severely battered" by the storms, but he was determined to continue the expedition.
He had identified damage to the Raymarine wind vane, the Echomax active radar reflector and one of the Iridium satellite phones, and the main desalination plant for drinking water was only working intermittently.
He said their loss would complicate the expedition, but they were not critical.
His son Oscar Konyukhov said passing South Africa was a tough challenge for his father.
"So far, we have not been able to communicate with Fedor Konyukhov by voice - only SMS via the By Sky satellite messenger.
"The stationary antennas of satellite phones are most likely damaged as a result of numerous capsizes.
"So he is only able to send very short messages."
Mr Konyukhov (jun) said the southern tip of the African continent, as a breakwater, strongly influenced and shaped the weather of the region.
"The name Cape of Good Hope should not be misleading, as we could observe - the weather here is extremely difficult, a region where at least three major weather systems collide: Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Southern Ocean (winds from Antarctica).
"No wonder the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias originally named it the Cape of Storms in 1488."
Mr Konyukhov (sen) said it felt like he had been at sea for a year.
"Here, one day lasts like three, especially during storms.
"I’ve seen a lot in my life, but when a boat lies upside down for a few seconds before another wave arrives, it’s terrifying.
"The waves are slamming the boat, but it feels like the ocean is starting to calm down."
He is expected to reach Western Australia in June.
