WASHINGTON
Record-breaking Turkish adventurer Erden Eruc has unveiled his latest epic journey ambition – a ocean-spanning voyage from New York to western Turkey for next year’s 101st anniversary of the Canakkale Victory and Martyrs’ Day.
The 54-year-old, born in Northern Cyprus, already achieved fame by being listed in the Guinness World Records last year when he became the first person to complete a solo, human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.
Eruc, speaking to The Anadolu Agency, says that he and an Australian colleague are planning to leave New York on May 19 in a two-seater private boat for a journey to commemorate the 1915 Battle of Cannakale.
"We will advance carefully and patiently. We will arrive in Gokceada [western Turkey] at the beginning of next year," he says.
He added that his first plan had been to row by himself but he decided that he wanted to include people from other nations.
"If I include them I can put other flags beside Turkish flag and so we can give a peace message," he added.
Eruc said that last year's plan had been to reach Canakkale for the 2015 centenary, but said that health problems had forced him to delay his voyage.
In 2010, Eruc was listed in the Guinness World Records as the first person to have rowed three major oceans.
His circumnavigation adventure from California to Papua New Guinea and Australia and then across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and from Venezuela to the U.S. took five years.
