My name is Daniel Turner and I grew up in the small city of Port Lincoln, South Australia known for it's seafood and great waters for sailing, fishing and other ocean sports/activities. After starting out in Holdfast Trainers at 6 years of age I moved into the 125 and pacer classes as a teenager as well as spent time racing keelboats on my fathers Farr 30 and grandfathers Adams 12 amongst others. Whilst I have always loved sailing, martial arts has also been another passion of mine since a young age.
After finishing high school I then spent four years in the Australian Army as a Combat Engineer and Combat Fitness Trainer and represented the Australian Defence Force at various regattas in the Tasar class. Upon discharging I moved back to Port Lincoln for a few years where I started racing keelboats and training young sailors on a Sydney 32 before moving to Adelaide for my career in the Property industry.
For a while I spent some time away from sailing after taking up endurance running and competed in a number of marathons and ultra-marathons including the Marathon Des Sables in 2015 (265 kms across the Sahara desert over 6 days) and is known as the toughest footrace on the planet. Since obtaining my goals in endurance running my thoughts turned towards the sea once more as I wanted to start achieving some of the offshore sailing goals I had as a child. I purchased the Sayer 11- Team Runaway and began refitting the yacht to compete in the 2018 Melbourne to Osaka Yacht race. I qualified for the race on another yacht (Enchantress) in the 2016 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race as a lot of time as boat owner was spent preparing my own yacht for the Osaka Cup.
Myself and co-skipper/legend Tom Crabb ended sailing well in the race finishing 4th over the line and 4th on handicap however sold the yacht afterwards once it arrived back in Australia. Since this time I have again taken a bit of time out of the water due to the financial commitment of such a big race. Whilst I have always dreamed of competing in a circumnavigation, I have never been in a position to consider it feasible and so when Don created the Class Globe 580 event, my excitement began to grow quickly and as such quickly purchased plans with hull #5 being allocated to me.
As a husband, father of three and amateur builder with plenty of commitments I certainly will not be the first hull to be constructed but with a high motivation and a very supportive team around me I am sure there are plenty of adventures to be had in the yacht in the not too distant future!
