Russian circumnavigator arrested in Newport

The plight of a Russian family whose voyaging plans were cut short by a surprise arrest by U.S. immigration officials in Newport, R.I., in June attracted the attention and assistance of numerous seafarers, various media organizations and at least two U.S. senators. Yet Vitali Bondarenko, a burly Russian scientist who sailed with his wife, Marina Ordynskaia, from the Volga River in 1991 and has since completed two circumnavigations on diminutive vessels without inboard power, remains in prison (as of press time in late September) for allegedly violating U.S. immigration laws.

Since the arrest in June, the family has relied on the support of the comunity, including the Seaman’s Church Institute and two U.S. Senators.
   Image Credit: John Snyder

“This is an unbelievable situation,” said attorney Chris Lavery of Joyce, Rubin & Zerola, a Boston firm representing Bondarenko. “It’s been making us shake our heads, and we deal with this sort of thing all the time.” The firm was retained by an American businessman who met the Russians while voyaging.

Ordynskaia and her two young sons were not arrested and have been living on their 27-foot sloop on a mooring in Newport for the summer and early fall with assistance from charities and the support of friends.

“We still live on our boat, my boys and I. We are at Goat Island Marina, where they let us take showers and do our laundry,” Ordynskaia said in an interview in mid-September. Numerous organizations rallied behind the family, including Oldport Marine, which has provided free water-taxi service, and the Seamen’s Church Institute, which is providing Ordynskaia with phone, fax and email service. A friend lent the use of his cell phone. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) have both written letters to the immigration service on Bondarenko’s behalf.

The family had been bound for Canada and ultimately back across the Atlantic for Europe after departing from the Bahamas in early June, when they diverted for a last-minute fuel stop at Block Island before heading across the fog-bound waters of Nantucket Shoals. U.S. Coast Guard officials convinced the couple by radio to clear customs at Newport, however, assuring them that they could reprovision without hassle, despite cancelled Soviet-era passports and a lack of visas. After calling on Newport, Bondarenko was subsequently arrested by Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) officials for a previous immigration violation. They had sailed from Florida in 2002 for the Bahamas, prior to — a la Sterling Hayden — an appointment with the court that would determine the future of their immigration status. Missing this court date meant forfeiting their requests to remain in the country and resulted in the court’s issuing an order of deportation in their absence, according to Lavery.

The BICE now wants to deport Bondarenko back to Russia by airplane, forcing him to leave his family — and their only home, their boat in Newport.

The saga of the Ordynskaia-Bondarenko family’s adventures began when the two Russians quit their teaching jobs in the former Soviet Union in 1991 and sailed away on a 26-foot steel boat that Bondarenko built himself — never to return. They sailed around the world, soon swapping their vessel for a Bristol 24 with a 2.5-hp engine and having two sons along the way, one born in Annapolis, Md., and the other in Sydney, Australia. To earn a living, the couple worked odd jobs and contributed dispatches to sailing magazines around the world. (A story in these pages in 1992 reported on the couple’s crossing the Atlantic without electronic positioning devices or a working sextant; navigation was reportedly performed by crude measurements of Polaris with the use of two rulers and interpolating longitude by observing the time of sunset and comparing predicted times in the Nautical Almanac.)

Besides a legacy of adventure, the family has endured tragedy as well, since sailing from the Volga nearly 12 years ago. Bondarenko’s two sons from a previous marriage died, one at the age of 20 from carbon monoxide poisoning from a home heater and the other at 17 of bone cancer. The Soviet Union, in its last phase under Gorbachev, collapsed, leaving the two sailors without a home country. Their Soviet passports reportedly expired in 2002.

The couple attempted to leave the United States in 2002 when Ordynskaia was five-months pregnant but eventually turned back when she became ill. The unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome and myriad other health problems. Once the girl was born, the couple chose to put her up for adoption, according to Ordynskaia, citing the inability to care for her and a lack of medical facilities in Russia.

After the child was adopted, the couple was apparently advised to leave the country, prior to the court date in Florida in 2002. They would have little idea that by sailing from Florida they had sailed themselves into a legal loophole that appears to be a result of post-Sept. 11 precautions by U.S. immigration officials.

“In the post-9/11 mentality, we’re getting some confusion on these issues,” said Will Kinsella, constituent liaison for Sen. Chafee. “Bondarenko and his family were permitted, under international maritime law, 72 hours to make repairs, etc. But because of U.S. immigration law, someone who has been given an order of deportation will be detained — and is not eligible for bond. But it doesn’t help anyone to keep this gentleman detained.”

Bondarenko, he said, had essentially sailed into “two different parts of the law.” Although Kinsella was confident that Bondarenko would be released shortly and permitted to refit his vessel for sea, the Atlantic hurricane season has begun and winter is not far behind. The boat, meanwhile, suffered damage this summer, and Ordynskaia and her two sons remain in Newport.

"We still live on our boat, my boys and I. We are at Goat Island Marina, where they let us take showers and do our laundry," Ordynskaia said in an interview in mid-September. Numerous organizations rallied behind the family, including Oldport Marine, which has provided free water-taxi service, and the Seamen's Church Institute, which is providing Ordynskaia with phone, fax and email service. A friend lent the use of his cell phone. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) have both written letters to the immigration service on Bondarenko's behalf.

Image Credit: John Snyder
Following Vitali Bondarenko's arrest for immigration violations, his wife, Marina Ordynskaia, and their two sons have been living on their sloop in Newport, R.I.

The family had been bound for Canada and ultimately back across the Atlantic for Europe after departing from the Bahamas in early June, when they diverted for a last-minute fuel stop at Block Island before heading across the fog-bound waters of Nantucket Shoals. U.S. Coast Guard officials convinced the couple by radio to clear customs at Newport, however, assuring them that they could reprovision without hassle, despite cancelled Soviet-era passports and a lack of visas. After calling on Newport, Bondarenko was subsequently arrested by Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) officials for a previous immigration violation. They had sailed from Florida in 2002 for the Bahamas, prior to &mdash a la Sterling Hayden &mdash an appointment with the court that would determine the future of their immigration status. Missing this court date meant forfeiting their requests to remain in the country and resulted in the court's issuing an order of deportation in their absence, according to Lavery.

The BICE now wants to deport Bondarenko back to Russia by airplane, forcing him to leave his family &mdash and their only home, their boat in Newport.

The saga of the Ordynskaia-Bondarenko family's adventures began when the two Russians quit their teaching jobs in the former Soviet Union in 1991 and sailed away on a 26-foot steel boat that Bondarenko built himself &mdash never to return. They sailed around the world, soon swapping their vessel for a Bristol 24 with a 2.5-hp engine and having two sons along the way, one born in Annapolis, Md., and the other in Sydney, Australia. To earn a living, the couple worked odd jobs and contributed dispatches to sailing magazines around the world. (A story in these pages in 1992 reported on the couple's crossing the Atlantic without electronic positioning devices or a working sextant; navigation was reportedly performed by crude measurements of Polaris with the use of two rulers and interpolating longitude by observing the time of sunset and comparing predicted times in the Nautical Almanac.)

Besides a legacy of adventure, the family has endured tragedy as well, since sailing from the Volga nearly 12 years ago. Bondarenko's two sons from a previous marriage died, one at the age of 20 from carbon monoxide poisoning from a home heater and the other at 17 of bone cancer. The Soviet Union, in its last phase under Gorbachev, collapsed, leaving the two sailors without a home country. Their Soviet passports reportedly expired in 2002.

The couple attempted to leave the United States in 2002 when Ordynskaia was five-months pregnant but eventually turned back when she became ill. The unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome and myriad other health problems. Once the girl was born, the couple chose to put her up for adoption, according to Ordynskaia, citing the inability to care for her and a lack of medical facilities in Russia.

After the child was adopted, the couple was apparently advised to leave the country, prior to the court date in Florida in 2002. They would have little idea that by sailing from Florida they had sailed themselves into a legal loophole that appears to be a result of post-Sept. 11 precautions by U.S. immigration officials.

"In the post-9/11 mentality, we're getting some confusion on these issues," said Will Kinsella, constituent liaison for Sen. Chafee. "Bondarenko and his family were permitted, under international maritime law, 72 hours to make repairs, etc. But because of U.S. immigration law, someone who has been given an order of deportation will be detained &mdash and is not eligible for bond. But it doesn't help anyone to keep this gentleman detained."

Bondarenko, he said, had essentially sailed into "two different parts of the law." Although Kinsella was confident that Bondarenko would be released shortly and permitted to refit his vessel for sea, the Atlantic hurricane season has begun and winter is not far behind. The boat, meanwhile, suffered damage this summer, and Ordynskaia and her two sons remain in Newport.

By Ocean Navigator