After 16 months at sea and 28,000 nautical miles behind him, South Australian sailor Dan Turner has achieved something most people never move beyond daydreaming about: a solo circumnavigation of the globe aboard a boat he built himself, in his own driveway.
Turner completed his voyage in Antigua, in the Caribbean Sea, this week, stepping ashore to a reception that left him visibly overwhelmed. Champagne was opened, horns blared across the harbour, and vessels of every description crowded the water to welcome him in.
"The welcoming was just insane," he said. "There were boats everywhere and people honking horns; it's something that I couldn't have even imagined."
One of 15 competitors in the Mini Globe Race, a round-the-world contest sailed in 5.8-metre Class Globe yachts that starts and finishes in Antigua, Turner crossed the finish line on March 8. Every one of those 28,000 nautical miles was covered aboard The Immortal Game, a vessel he had constructed himself before the race got underway.
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The toll of 16 months at sea was both physical and emotional. Turner identified homesickness and the unrelenting demands of ocean sailing as the aspects of the voyage that pushed him hardest.
"I felt selfish being away from my family, so it was very difficult at times," he said. "It was really my family, my friends and supporters that pushed me to dig deep."
Mechanical drama struck early. Not long into the race, The Immortal Game nearly lost its mast when the forestay, a wire that attaches the mast to the front of the boat, snapped. Turner had to think quickly to avert a dismasting.
"That took some quick thinking to get some of the other ropes to attach the mast to the front of the boat to keep it from falling down," he said.
The weather served up some fearsome conditions along the route. "I had big storms … there were 70 knots of breeze near Tahiti and a 12-hour storm cell that was just crazy windy," Turner said.
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The journey also produced moments Turner could only describe as genuinely extraordinary. Pulling into remote destinations and spending time among local communities ranked among the memories he will carry longest.
"We got to see some amazing places and cultures around the world," he said. "You can't really get to some of these islands, like the Marquesas Islands, unless you've got a boat. Meeting some of these people and eating food with the locals was just amazing."
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Back in Adelaide, Turner's wife Nikki Turner had spent all 16 of those months tracking his progress with a blend of pride and anxiety. She admitted that when he first started assembling a plywood boat in the driveway, there was scepticism about whether he would see it through.
"From the moment that he started building a plywood boat in our driveway, I think there was some scepticism initially that he would be able to sail around the world," she said. "But we took a really big, deep breath when he rang through and he said that he crossed the finish line in Antigua."
When Turner first announced he intended to enter the race, Nikki acknowledged there had been a "certain level of fear," even as she had stood by his side through each of his adventures.
"Anything he puts his mind to, he gives 110 per cent," she said. "I'm very happy to have him back on land."
The Immortal Game, the boat Turner shaped with his own hands, will not be retired. He has sold the vessel to another Australian who intends to race it, and Turner plans to deliver it on his way home.
"He's going to do the Mini Globe Race in 2029, so it'll be good to see the boat continuing its legacy," Turner said.
For now, Turner is looking towards something considerably quieter. Chief among his priorities is time with his children, after so many months of separation.
"I was lucky enough that my wife got to meet me in a few places, but I haven't seen the kids now for many months … I hope I've inspired them and that we can spend a lot of time [together] in the next couple of years before they move out and do their own things," he said.
He is also hoping to find "some sort of normal life" after more than a year on the water.
Nikki Turner is not hoping he disappears from the ocean altogether. She would like to see him back out there, though in a different capacity, teaching "young tuckers how to sail."
"And just keeping that passion for dreams and adventure alive," she said.
