Tapio Lehtinen already made headlines in mid-November 2022. The 65-year-old Finn's yacht "Asteria", a Gaia 36, sank in the southern Indian Ocean during the Golden Globe Race. Lehtinen made it to the life raft and was rescued a short time later by Kirsten Neuschäfer.
Lehtinen returned to Finland to continue working on his 50-year-old Swan, which he plans to take part in the Ocean Globe Race 2023, a race around the world to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Whitbread Round the World Race.
His Swan 57 "Galiana WithSecure" would be the oldest boat in the fleet and has just been fitted with a new rig and new sails. This rig now came off the top in the Rolex Fastnet Race in the tough conditions after twelve hours of racing. Lehtinen now has just a few weeks to replace the mast and be ready for the start on 10 September. It would be his second participation after 1981/82.
Mast breakage after hard impact
"After twelve hours down the Solent and through the Needles like in a washing machine, we crashed into a deep wave trough off Portland Bill," reports Lehtinen. He was at the helm himself. "The current was against the wind and the sea was very steep, so the boat bumped into it. When we fell down this wave, there was first a big bang from the impact and then the mast came down." Most of the crew were seasick, but were still able to act.
The trip on the Solent was perhaps the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my life" (Tapio Lehtinen)
The mast broke at the height of the first spreader. "We had 15 metres of mast in the water, and the total weight of the rig is probably close to 700 or 800 kilograms. Nevertheless, we were able to lift everything on board and save all the equipment." The cause of the mast breakage was apparently a broken wire screw connection.
A small consolation for Lehtinen should be that the mast now came from above and not during the Ocean Globe Race. After all, the history of the previous Whitbread Round the World Race is littered with dramatic stories of shipwrecks, not least during the 1973 race, when the much-praised French "Pen Duick VI", sailed by sailing legend Eric Tabarly, was shipwrecked twice. The 73-foot Bermudaketsch will also take part in the Ocean Globe Race, this time sailed by Tabarly's daughter Marie.
Lehtinen is one of Finland's best-known single-handed sailors. He started Opti sailing in 1965 and sailed actively in his youth in the Laser and 470, among others. From 1981 to 1982, he took part in the Whitbread Round the World Race as navigator with the Finnish boat "Skopbank", as well as in other ocean races.
