A former Estevan resident has wrapped up his epic, 267-day global adventure at sea on a 13-metre sailboat.
Bert ter Hart, who now resides on B.C.’s Gabriola Island, completed the 267-day journey on Saturday afternoon by sailing into Victoria’s Inner Harbour to the cheers of family and friends.
He completed a solo, non-stop circumnavigation around the world via the five great capes – South Cape in New Zealand, South East and Cape Leeuwin in Australia, Cape Agulhas in South Africa and Cape Horn in Chile – using only celestial navigation.
That means ter Hart is the first person from North America, and one of only five people from around the world, to accomplish the feat.
In an interview with the Mercury back in January, ter Hart said he traced his love of sailing, as well as open spaces and big skies, back to his time growing up in Estevan.
“My father taught me to sail on Boundary Dam,” he said at the time. “It is some of the most fun I've ever had sailing a boat, big or small. Even there, once around a point, there was no one else around but you.
“No other people, no houses, no roads. For a small boy, it was like being transported to another country entirely. Hardly a day goes by on this boat where I don't think of some experience or something I learned sailing a small boat on Boundary Dam back in Saskatchewan.”
At the time, he said he was embarking on the journey to inspire children to pursue the sciences, but he found himself being inspired by the experience.
Before arriving back in Canada Saturday, he was able to convince border agents in Victoria to waive the mandatory 14-day quarantine period for anyone arriving from outside the country. Ter Hart had been outside of Canada for months, but he hadn’t stepped foot on land since leaving Victoria on Oct. 28, 2019, well before COVID-19 was first diagnosed.
His family called him “the safest man on the planet,” because he hadn’t had any contact with people during the pandemic.
He has been cleared to enter the country and exempted from quarantine requirements due to his isolation from the previous months.
A future edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
