Canadian Sailor Returns to Turkish Home After Surviving Arctic Ice, Atlantic Hurricanes Aboard Homemade Boat

A hero’s welcome greeted Erkan Gursoy as he motored his peculiar sailing craft into the Turkish port of Çanakkale: Flowers, ceremonies, VIP dinners, TV appearances and “more flowers.”

In 1972, Mr. Gursoy had been a 25-year-old blacksmith when he left his Turkish home for a life in British Columbia. Now, at 68, he was returning in the most swashbuckling way possible: on a homemade aluminum boat he had guided through thousands of miles of Arctic ice and Atlantic hurricanes.

“I wanted to make a meaningful return to Turkey,” said Mr. Gursoy, speaking by cellphone from aboard his noticeably damaged boat, the Altan Girl, which is now moored in the West Istanbul Marina. Read More