FIJI — Thunder Bay high school teacher Dan Turk's epic sailing voyage around the world has come to an unfortunate end.
The only Canadian in the Mini Globe Race is leaving his beloved home-built yacht Little Bea at a marina in Fiji to return home for treatment of unspecified health issues.
Turk made the announcement in a social media post Wednesday "with great sadness."
This coming Saturday, he was due to join 14 other competitors – all sailing identical 19-foot plywood boats – to start the third leg of a 13-month, 24,000 mile journey.
With the completion of a five-week layover in Fiji, the next stage is from the Pacific Island nation to Capetown, South Africa.
Event organizers describe this as the toughest and most dangerous section of the race.
Turk wrote that he's happy with the third-place and fifth-place results he was able to achieve in the first two legs.
"Little Bea has been a great sailboat that has safely sailed just under 16,000 nautical miles starting from Halifax in July 2023. We have crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice, crossed the Caribbean Sea, and the vast majority of the Pacific Ocean."
He said he was humbled by the support he's received from family, friends and corporate sponsors, calling it "very overwhelming."
Turk, who developed his love for competitive sailing while participating in Thunder Bay Yacht Club events on Lake Superior, has said he was driven to enter the global race by the opportunity to enjoy a "huge amount of adventure."
