Türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Milliyet Newspaper, 2 November 2019)
The picture of inspiration.
Eight years ago, Fatih Aksu escaped from war-torn Libya in a boat
with no radar or radio. Aksu had been working as an industrial diver
in the Soussa region of Libya, near the city of Derna, for a company
that was building a desalinization facility.
Aksu (38) and his fellow Turkish divers Halil İbrahim Arslan
(30), Haldun Özkoç (31), Murat Özpınar (33), Ufuk Teksen (31),
Ercan Altay (38) and Capt. Levent Usta, got word that the city they
were in, which was held by Muammar Qaddafi's supporters, was
about to be bombed. Their only chance for escape was the salvage
ship Hicret-1, so they set out into the Mediterranean Sea on 22
February 2011 without radar or a radio. Sixty hours later the group
reached Datça and safety in Turkey.
Now, Aksu has decided to go back to sea by himself for a world
tour. He left Istanbul on 5 May in his sailboat named "Mavi Ufak"
(Blue Horizon) without an automatic pilot, GPS signal or an
international communications system. (!)
Aksu passed through the Çanakkale strait, the Aegean Sea and
beyond Gibraltar, after which he took a 69-day break at Agadir on
the Atlantic coast of Morocco. He explained to Milliyet in Agadir
that "I've rested in Morocco and got my boat ready for the Canary
Islands, 220 miles away. After than I'll stop in the Cape Verde
Islands, 700 miles south of the Canaries. In mid-December I'll
start the Atlantic crossing in hopes of reaching the Caribbean Sea."
Agadir is under the "R" in "Morocco"
Aksu, who supports himself with a minimum-wage income, is
attempting this voyage with no help from anyone else. He explained
that "I don't have automatic pilot or a GSM device. In fact, I don't
even have an international communications system to give me
weather reports. But I want to prove what Turkish mariners can do
and find myself at the same time."
TNT wishes Fatih Kaptan smooth sailing and safe seas.
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