Internationally acclaimed solo sailor and circumnavigator, Bert terHart is attempting to make history again. The first North or South American to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop using only traditional navigation tools and only the 9th person in the world to complete such a trip, terHart is currently paddling and portaging his way across Canada in an effort to become the first person to sail solo, non-stop around the world and then cross a continent completely under his own steam.
terHart left Steveston, B.C., April 1, 2022, and is hoping to make Big Shippagan Light, New Brunswick, by November 15, 2022. He will be following Voyageur routes through seven of Canada’s 10 provinces, paddling many of the same rivers that Canada’s best-known explorers and cartographers paddled as well as generation upon generation of First Nations peoples for millennia.
terHart is hoping that his trip across Canada will inspire Canadians young and old to live out their own adventures big or small. By following traditional routes across the country, again without GPS or other form of electronic navigation, terHart is trying to raise awareness regarding the roles that Indigenous peoples had in creating this country.
“All the names we know – Thompson, Hearne, MacKenzie, Fraser, Champlain, Kelsey, the list goes on and on – the successes of these extraordinary explorers, surveyors, and cartographers lay at the feet of Indigenous peoples all across Canada. Without their help, their work would have been impossible and Canada, as we know it, would not exist.” according to terHart.
“In your life, you will hear “cannot” far more often than “can.” It’s too hard. It’s too far. You’re too old. The only yes you need is the one you tell yourself. Give yourself permission to say yes. If you can do that, you can do anything,” says terHart.
Soldier, sailor, adventurer and serial entrepreneur, Bert terHart doesn’t like to be told no. Read more about his adventures here: https://kainani.ca.
