Left: Tapio Lehtinen takes his turn as a watch leader onboard his Swan 55 Galiana during the 2023 Ocean Globe Race. Lehtinen had selected his crew for this race shortly before leaving for his second singlehanded Golden Globe in 2022, at the completion of which he had only a few months ashore before repeating the exercise again but now with a relatively inexperienced but hungry young team. Above: to varying degrees Lehtinen has brought up his family in his image but perhaps with a more balanced proportion of salt water than appears to fill his own veins to the exclusion of everything else. Silja Lehtinen (above left) has just locked up a bronze medal in the Women’s Match Racing at London 2012 . The following week she returned to the University of Helsinki to complete her medical training. Today as a full-time doctor she only sails for fun (aside from sightings of a low-profile Silja at the occasional 49er event…)
classic Six Metre yacht, May Be IV. The Six Metre class became a big part of Tapio’s life as our fleet grew steadily to become Finland’s largest national keelboat fleet. Tapio was instrumental in developing
classic yacht racing in Finland, in general, while also overseeing the classic class asso- ciation for many years. In 2014 he won the Nationals for the final time with his beauti- fully renovated Olympic bronze medal winner from Kiel 1936. More recently May Be IV has been in
storage to leave room for Tapio’s recent ocean racing endeavours (by the way, 40 years since the memorable honeymoon, he would be willing to sell May Be IV to a good home if someone is interested)… ‘We do not own these boats; we just
have the privilege of sailing and taking care of them. Now it would be someone else’s turn. As one would like to ensure their children are safe and stable in their adult lives, similarly we are responsible for passing on these beauties to loving owners.’
Two (more) successful sailors Becoming father of two children (born 1985 and 1987), and tragically losing their mother to cancer in 1988, changed Tapio’s life. But sailing remained a true passion.
Both of Tapio’s children enjoyed a highly focused coaching programme, learning the basics in a downscaled (80 per cent) Opti- mist dinghy from the age of four. The occa- sional dip in motivation on the children’s side was always compensated for by their father’s unwavering belief in the sport. Both children achieved sailing success.
Daughter Silja was crowned world champion in three classes: Byte, 29er and Women’s Match Race, and represented Finland in two Olympics; while son Lauri memorably thanked his father after winning the Nordic Optimist Champi- onship at the age of 12, ‘Thanks, Dad, for forcing me to sail…’ Both Silja and Lauri sailed in the 2012
Olympics in Weymouth, with Silja taking home bronze in the match racing and Lauri finishing 7th in the 49er class. How- ever, after many years’ campaigning in the Olympic classes, the 2012 Games was a turning point in both children’s lives with their studies now taking over, Silja gradu- ating as a medical doctor and Lauri as a maritime engineer.
Singlehanded sailor When Tapio first heard of Don McIntyre’s plans to organise a non-stop singlehanded
round-the-world race to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Golden Globe Race, he was immediately sold. Things started happening fast and, being the aesthete and a devoted fan of Olin Stephens, he wanted nothing else than one of the S&S designs approved to take part in the 2018 race. The most beautiful alter- native in Tapio’s eyes was the Gaia 36 and there was only one of them available. Like Olin Stephens, Tapio believes that
pretty boats sail the best and performance is a natural outcome of attractive lines. But Asteria was lying in Italy in poor shape and time was running out. After some set- backs along the way Tapio sailed Asteria to Finland for a total renovation of the old lady. She got a new deck and her entire interior was cut out and the hull strength- ened in critical locations and a new rig added. The sail wardrobe was replaced with new durable round-the-world sails. Budgets were constantly rewritten and
target dates missed. But one deadline never moved: Tapio sailed away from Les Sables d’Olonne on 1 July 2018. During the pre- start weeks a massive team of supporters was working flat out on the boat to meet ‘the’ deadline. Tapio was there (just) among the 18
SEAHORSE 55
ALAMY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124
