Survivors – The last trip of the Asteria boat tells about Tapio Lehtinen’s trials in the GGR race.
Tapio Lehtinen told the media about his Golden Globe Race experience last December. Jussi Eskola
It was November 18, day 76 of last year’s Golden Globe Race.
Tapio Lehtinen had passed Cape Town and started the long stretch towards the southern tip of Australia. He was in second place in the race and even dreamed of winning.
The journey progressed in a “comfortable southeast wind, long and steady waves”, Lehtinen recalls in the newly-released book Survivor – The last voyage of the Asteria boat.
Lehtinen went to sleep.
– I woke up to a loud crash. I realized that the sound was coming from the inside and the back of the boat, he says in the book.
– I don’t remember feeling a strong blow against the wave or anything else. It took about 20 seconds for an old and stiff guy like me to squirm out from under the protective net through the tick’s leg.
The water was already up to my knees.
– The water flooded in like rapids from the bottom of the cabin stairs, on top of the engine room. After a couple of seconds of freaking out, I realized that yes, the boat was sinking, and very quickly.
Jump on the ferry
The Golden Globe Race is a solo sailing around the world using similar boats and equipment as the original race in the 1960s. However, for emergency situations, the boats have modern positioning and communication devices.
Lehtinen did not have time to bring out all the emergency supplies in the noise of sinking.
– I stated that the most important thing would be to get a survival suit on and a raft in the water, if and when the boat sinks under me. As long as I was notified of my location, I would be picked up from the ferry within two days and I would survive with the equipment of the ferry without the additional food, medicine and other equipment contained in the packages.
Lehtinen got the life raft into the water and pulled the rope.
– The feeling of relief was quite great when the first crack was heard. After that, there was a loud hiss when the case opened and the raft was filled with compressed air, Lehtinen describes.
– I threw an emergency radio box and a bag into the ferry, which contained a thick thermal coverall to be used under the rescue suit and a thin, breathable dry suit coverall that I had taken with me.
When Lehtinen cast his last glances at his sinking boat, the knot in the life raft’s mooring rope came undone.
– Instead of somehow saying goodbye to Asteria, I made a tiger leap over the railing wires towards the ferry with all my strength.
“Embarrassing mistake”
Lehtinen says in the book that untying the zipper was an embarrassing mistake that could have been his fate.
– Fortunately, the ferry had not drifted faster and farther, he states.
– Those first minutes were the most dangerous of the accident. If I had messed up, it could have gone badly.
Lehtinen watched Asteria’s death struggle standing on the swinging life raft.
– With tears in my eyes, I put my hand in my pocket to say goodbye to my dear friend on his last trip, he recalls.
– I had boasted that it was unsinkable. I learned another lesson in humility.
Goods deliveries
National champion Kirsten Neuschäfer was the first to get on the life raft. He transported Lehtinen to a cargo ship named Darya Gayatri, which was traveling to China with a cargo of soybeans.
– When I climbed on board, I was wearing boxer shorts under the life jacket, a t-shirt, a synthetic set of long underwear under a merino wool layer and a thick thermal coverall.
The crew members provided the seasoned newcomer with footwear and clothes.
– I got safety shoes, a couple of other overalls and a helmet as well as shirts, boxers, socks, shorts, pants, sweatshirts and sandals, Lehtinen lists.
– From the skipper to the assistant cook, everyone gave something. It was disturbing and moving.
Darya Gayatri dropped off Lehtinen and the Indian coxswain heading to her wedding in Jakarta.
Lehtinen got home for Christmas.
Of the sixteen GGR 2022 competitors, only five made it to the finish line. The fastest of them was Neuschäfer, who returned to Les Sables-d’Olonne on April 27.
Tapio Lehtinen and Ari Pusa’s book Survivors – The Last Voyage of the Asteria Boat (WSOY) will be published on June 15.
Tapio Lehtinen got home for Christmas – which was of course not his original goal. Jussi Eskola