THUNDER BAY — Dan Turk has enjoyed sailing for over two decades, but has never experienced an adventure on the water like the one he's about to embark on.
After building a 5.8 metre sailboat in his garage during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thunder Bay man is transporting it by trailer it to Halifax this week where he will launch Little Bea in the Atlantic Ocean and head for Portugal.
"Throughout my life I've always built a lot of things. And I always wanted to build a boat. So this was kind of a natural progression, " he told Dougall Media.
Turk first saw the plans for the boat on Facebook.
"It's called a class association boat, so it's built to certain specifications... The project started in July of 2020 and it took me 13 or 14 months to complete. I'm not sure it's actually complete because I'm still working on it today, and this is three years later," he said in an interview last week.
The hull is made from plywood coated in fibreglass.
Turk said every component on the boat is hand-made, including the keel which he fabricated out of a steel plate.
"I'm a bit of a jack-of-all trades. My trade background is I'm a machinist. So I have a knowledge of construction and how things go together."
Dozens of people around the world have constructed boats based on the same model, but he said he's one of only a handful to do it from scratch.
"That means I used raw materials, cut every piece and shaped it to suit, whereas most everybody else has built theirs from a kit. So it shows up, it's all pre-cut."
As part of the class association requirements, Turk set up a blog to document the various stages of his build.
"They were watching me build the boat, and I was one of the first ones. I was the first in the world to launch as well... other than the founders. The founder went in, and a week later I went in, so that was pretty exciting."
He said there was naturally a bit of tension in the air when the boat was put on the water for the first time.
"I mean, it's a lot of man-hours in terms of my hours. But also a lot of my friends and family. Everybody was helping out in the build at certain times when we could during (COVID) restrictions. Then we launched here at the Thunder Bay Yacht Club where I've been a member for 25 years... It was nerve-wracking for sure but also exciting because it floats and it sits in the water the way it's supposed to."
The Little Bea is based on a design that's already proved suitable for sailing across the Atlantic.
Turk is modelling a lot of his equipment and supplies on what some of his fellow builders have used.
There's no water purifier on board, so he''ll leave with 120 litres of water and plenty of freeze-dried food.
Although he has all the required safety equipment on board for crossing the ocean, there's no room for luxuries such as a shower.
"It's going to be a matter of jumping off the back of the boat when it's calm, and shower up like that."
Turk will be able to enjoy amenities such as a hot-water shower once he's back on land in a few weeks.
Depending on how weather systems are tracking over the Atlantic, he expects to set sail early next week.
It should take about 20 days for him to reach the Azores Islands, then another 10 days to reach Portugal.
With files from TBT News
