asteria yacht sinking

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Golden Globe Race – Tapio Lehtinen: ‘Within two minutes the water had gone from knee to waist height; I knew I had to leave the boat’

• Katy Stickland
• November 21, 2022

Golden Globe Race skipper Tapio Lehtinen gives his account of the sinking of his Gaia 36 and his rescue from the southern Indian Ocean

Tapio Lehtinen doesn’t know why his Golden Globe Race yacht, Asteria , sank in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Gaia 36 was 450 miles south east of Port Elizabeth in South Africa when she began rapidly taking on water, forcing the singlehanded sailor to abandon ship for his liferaft ; 24 hours later – on 19 November 2022 – he was rescued by fellow race skipper, Kirsten Neuschafer before being transferred to the bulk carrier Darya Gayatri. The Hong Kong-registered vessel is now on its way to Rizhao in China.

Tapio Lehtinen managed to leave Asteria for his liferaft within 5 minutes, and then watched the yacht sink. Credit: GGR 2022/Etienne Messikommer

‘Everything happened so quickly. I was sleeping in my bunk when I woke up around 0830. I woke up to a big bang. Although I was sleeping, I do react to the movement of the boat and I am 99% sure we didn’t hit anything. The bang came from the deck or inside the boat. I felt no impact. I have a safety net on top of the bunk so it took around 20 seconds to crawl out of my bunk and put my feet on the floor, and it was already knee deep in water. The water was rushing rapidly from the stern of the boat forward into the cabin,’ Lehtinen told Yachting Monthly from the bulk carrier Darya Gayatri.

The 64-year-old offshore sailor managed to grab his survival suit and his grab bag containing his communications equipment and make his way on deck.

Tapio Lehtinen’s liferaft was securely on deck when the accident happened. Credit: Nora Havel/GGR 2022

‘I realised I had to leave the boat. I grabbed my survival suit and communication grab bag and got to the deck. Once my survival suit was on, I got the liferaft in the water and then I went back to the companionway to get the other two grab bags, which had food, water and medication in them but, by then, the water was already up to deck level. Everything was floating inside and I realised I would need to dive to get my two grab bags, which I decided not to do in a sinking boat. I knew Abhilash [Tomy] and Kirsten were close to me, and I had 100% confidence and trust in Don’s [Don McIntyre – race chairman] ability to coordinate a rescue. I knew I would not spend more than a day in the raft,’ added the 64-year-old lifelong skipper.

Tapio Lehtinen had already cut the line securing the liferaft to the sinking boat and had tied a quick release knot which could be easily undone.

‘Whilst I was in the companionway, the knot opened and the raft started drifting away. It was about 2-3 metres from the boat. I made a leap from the boat to the raft and luckily I made it. Asteria took 20 minutes to fully sink. When I saw the top of the mainsail I stood up in the liferaft to make the last salute to my friend, which was a pretty emotional moment,’ said Lehtinen, who completely rebuilt the 57-year-old boat for the 2018 Golden Globe Race; he came fifth in the race, having sailed around the world in 322 days due to gooseneck barnacle growth on the boat’s hull.

Tapio Lehtinen in his survival suit. All of the skippers underwent sea survival training before the race start. Credit: Nora Havel/GGR

Lehtinen made further modifications for the 2022 race, including fitting new electrics and a Hydrovane windvane steering system, having found the Windpilot difficult to keep on course in the 2018 race, partly due to the fact it was connected to the boat’s rudder.

The Hydrovane steered with its own rudder blades, which reduced yaw, and enhanced Asteria ‘s  performance; it also meant the boat’s rudder could be used as a trim tab, improving upwind sailing performance.

‘I re-entered the race as I felt Asteria deserved another chance and I was super happy with the boat and everything was working fine; it was great to sail the boat without the problems of the first Golden Globe Race. I felt totally safe, and had 100% trust in the boat. I was so looking forward to the next 100 days ahead of me It is totally unbelievable that the boat sank on such a beautiful summer day.’

Continues below…

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Tapio Lehtinen said he had time to reflect on the loss of Asteria whilst spending 24 hours in the liferaft, and has now ‘got over the disappointment’, and that he was lucky not to need rescue in stronger winds.

He said the liferaft ‘turned out to be luxury’, and with his dry suit on underneath his survival suit, he was ‘warm and comfortable’.

‘The only thing missing in the liferaft was a Gideon’s Bible and a bathroom, other than that everything was great. I trusted I would be rescued within 24 hours. The first day was light winds and the wind started picking up through the night to a Force 4. I only had one wave break into the liferaft.’

Fellow Golden Globe Race skipper, Kirsten Neuschafer was the first to reach Tapio Lehtinen. Credit: Nora Havel/GGR 2022

Tapio Lehtinen had plenty of wildlife for company; 20 black Giant Petrel gathered around the liferaft, with the dominant bird even touching his finger with their beak.

Albatross also kept him entertained as he waited for rescue.

‘I put my head out [of the raft] and two albatross were next to each other, looking like they were kissing each other with their beaks. It was very romantic. They were there for 20 minutes. Eventually they went off and in the morning a wondering albatross also came within 1-2 m of the raft. I got to see him taking over and gliding right over me. I have never seen an albatross taking off from the water before, it was so close. It was like a jet engine. Just before Kirsten arrived, a sea turtle turned up and come next to the raft. The sea life was expectational. ‘

Tapio Lehtinen said the rescue operation was smooth, with ‘no panic’ due to the compulsory sea survival training before the race start, and the strict rules surrounding the equipment in the grab bag, which included a YB3 Tracker-Texting device, satellite phone, personal locator beacon (PLB), and GMDSS VHF.

Modifications were made to Asteria before the 2022 race, including the installation of Hydrovane windvane steering. Credit: Katy Stickland

‘It [the rescue] went like an instructional film. It was great to get onto Kirsten’s Cape George 36 cutter. First we had a big hug and then a glass of rum and we had time for a nice chat. We saw Darya Gayatri approaching. It took them around half to three-quarters-of-an-hour for the ship to turn, so its side was against the wind so Kirsten could manoeuvre the boat to the lee of the ship, which is 230m long. We couldn’t get too close as there was still a 3-5 metre swell. We got to within 30m of the ship and then they threw a line to Minnehaha, which we caught and tied it to the raft. They then pulled me in the raft alongside [the ship] next to the rope ladder and then I climbed up the ladder and then they pulled the liferaft up to the deck,’ explained Lehtinen, who gave Neuschafer his dry suit as a thank you for the rescue as she didn’t have one; he hopes it will provide her with extra protection in the Southern Ocean .

He said he ‘never imagined’ he would need to be rescued, and fellow Golden Globe Race skippers could ‘trust that whatever happens, that they are in the best possible hands’ in the event of an emergency.

Tapio Lehtinen now has a three week voyage aboard the Darya Gayatri, which is expected to dock in Rizhao, China on the 6 December 2022.

Tapio Lehtinen came 5th in the 2018 Golden Globe Race. Credit: Christophe Favreau/PPL/GGR

A veteran of the 1981-82 Whitbread Round the World Race, Lehtinen is leading his own team Tapio Lehtinen Sailing in the 2023 Ocean Globe Race (OGR), a retro Whitbread Race, to mark the 50th anniversary of the original 1973 Whitbread. Like the Golden Globe Race, the OGR is being run by Don McIntyre.

The team, made up of young Finnish sailors, will be racing on board the Swan 55 Galiana .

‘I now have time to focus on the Ocean Globe Race; it is very valuable for me, psychologically, that I have the next project in the pipeline. It makes it easier to leave the disappointment behind. I have plenty of time to walk around Darya Gayatri , which even has a gym. My aim is to walk 2km after every meal so I stay fit for the Ocean Globe Race. The crew on the ship are taking splendid care of me and I’ve had some lovely Indian meals. Life is smiling,’ added Tapio Lehtinen.

A feature on  Galiana  and Tapio Lehtinen Sailing will be published in the January 2023 issue of  Yachting Monthly , out on the 8 December 2022.

Current positions of the Golden Globe Race 2022 skippers on 21 November 2022 at 1000 UTC

Simon Curwen , (UK), Biscay 36, Clara Kirsten Neuschafer, (South Africa), Cape George 36 cutter, Minnehaha Abhilash Tomy , (India), Rustler 36, Bayanat Michael Guggenberger , (Austria), Biscay 36, Nuri Jeremy Bagshaw, (South Africa), OE32, Olleanna Elliot Smith ,  (USA), Gale Force 34, Second Wind Ian Herbert-Jones (UK), Tradewind 35, Puffin Arnaud Gaist , (France), Barbican 33 Mk 2, Hermes Phoning Guy Waites (UK), Tradewind 35, Sagarmatha

Edward Walentynowicz , (Canada), Rustler 36, Noah’s Jest Guy deBoer , (USA), Tashiba 36, Spirit Mark Sinclair (Australia), Lello 34, Coconut Pat Lawless , (Ireland), Saltram Saga 36 , Green Rebel Damien Guillou , (France), Rustler 36, PRB Ertan Beskardes , (UK), Rustler 36, Lazy Otter Tapio Lehtinen, (Finland), Gaia 36, Asteria

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Why did Asteria sink o quickly?

• Thread starter BurnitBlue
• Start date 4 Feb 2023

Well-known member

During the thread about the Contessa doppelganger i read about a boat in the GGR that had just sunk in about 5 minutes with water pouring unchecked into the saloon. The report caught my eye because the Contessa 32 has a counter stern. Somehow I knew that the boat that sank had a similar cointer. It generated a small amount of speculation. There is a fascinating round table discussion on youtube between Tapio the owner Skipper, a Navel Achitect, and someone from GGR (I think). The Navel Achitect had made simulations of the forces on the counter.from backstay, two running backstays and the Hydrovane steering system. The discussion on you tube is under the title GGR2022 Tapio and his team talk about Why Asteria saink. I can't do links on my PC. Sorry if this has already been posted elsewhere. How could a yacht in relative calm seas sink so quickly when the boat had 6 (SIX) watertight bulkheads installed. The Navel designer actually discounted the counter causing the sinking. My thoughts are that the owner installed bulkheads, created a stress point which ripped the boat in half. Fascinating stuff. The drawings and simulations are presented for the discussion. BTW, Apropo the thread about the Contesss 32. My old passport arrived at the passport office yesterday. I now wait for the new passport then I can travel to view the doppelganger suggestion made on that thread.  

lustyd said: Click to expand...

Sandy said: Good lord what a rambling conversation, I lost the will to live, and I've been in some tortuously detailed meetings in the past! Did they come up with any conclusions apart from my 10 second one I posted in the original thread? They had forgotten basic Year 10 mechanics; a triangle is stronger and they should have fitted the Hydrovane using one. @BurnitBlue use the icon arrowed below to insert links to YouTube. View attachment 150651 Click to expand...

doug748 said: I could not stick the video out either. However I hope someone did careful sums over the 1/2 inch (12mm) rigging wire ( ) . Click to expand...

Unsure what cosmetic surgeons have to do with structural issues in boats...  

Active member

I give a potential another scenario why Asteria sank; which is based upon the sinking of the 37ft Inis Mor off the Saltees Islands on the 3rd June 2017. I was actually sailing westbound inside of Tuskar rock on the day this happened and responded to the RNLI call for assistance (the crew were quickly picked up by helicopter but the boat sank within minutes). It wasn’t a particularly bad day and we had saw the yacht breeze past us earlier in the afternoon so why did a well founded racing yacht and previous winner of the Round Ireland race with competent crew sink and are there any lessons learnt in respect to Asteria ? I’ve not been able to find a marine accident report but there was speculation at the time it was a damaged seacock: Did Failed Seacock Sink Inis Mor? The crew allegedly all been on deck for a couple of hours and had not been down below to notice the water ingress; no high Water bilge alarms went off and by the time the crew realised it was too late and the yacht sank within minutes. Scottish Yacht 'Inis Mor' Sinks On Way to ICRA Championships at Royal Cork, All Crew Safe Could exactly the same sort of ‘slow water’ ingress from a failed thru-hull fitting potentially leading to a catastrophic failure be the cause ? I guess we will never know unless a robot goes down and has a look !  

How do you locate even a bad leak once the point of ingress is well submerged? You may if you are lucky see daylight,through it, but that's about your only chance of finding it.  

BurnitBlue said: I agree. Some years ago I was involved with a boat that went banana shape while on the hard. The owner had just fitted twin forestays. He used stress guages to make each forestay equal to his measurement when the boat had only one. He did not want any sag in the genoas so he wound up the backstay to get the numbers he wanted. At one stroke he doubled the bending moment on the boat. I think the same thing would happen if the standing rigging was increased in diameter. Click to expand...

• 10 Feb 2023

oldbloke said: As someone who mainly sails dinghies and small keelboats I am used to thinking about and measuring rig tensions in kilograms. The tendency on here to measure tension by stretch might be a reasonable and convenient proxy in terms of the AWB with usual rigging but has worried me that it is a step too remote from what you are actually trying to achieve. So , increasing your shrouds from 6 to 12mm would have minimal effect on your rig tension (sl less elastic and sl heavier rig) unless instead of maintaining a preexisting rig tension of ,say, 100kg, you tried to maintain a stretch of 5mm which might well bend your boat in half. I can't quite work out whether 2 forestays of the same tension double the force ,or have no effect. Click to expand...

I think you are probably right.  

BurnitBlue said: force may bend the boat Click to expand...

lustyd said: Or it could pull the mast through the deck/hull. It all just depends where the weak points are. I'm pretty sure on my old vivacity it would have crushed the deck before bending the boat Click to expand...

BurnitBlue said: ... I am not mathematically smart enough to know how much the diameter must be increased to get the same effect as adding a second wire. Click to expand...

mjcoon said: By root-two? (Square law.) Click to expand...

BurnitBlue said: Not that easy because rigging wire is in itself a twisted bunch of 19 separate wires. Google does not know either. Click to expand...

mjcoon said: But with the same number of component wires the ratio of wire cross-section to overall area should be consistent. Thus just a scale change. Click to expand...

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Latest News: 2026 Golden Globe Race – Two years to go!

days hrs mins secs

Tapio Lehtinen

The skipper.

Boat sank on 18 November 2022 Asteria sank in 5 minutes with a strong unidentified water intake from astern. Tapio had time to activate his EPIRB, put on his survival suit, grab the grab bag and get in the life raft, where he activated his PLB and gave a standing last salute to Asteria as she was sinking.

Tapio, the old man of the sea, the philosopher, the 5th and last competitor to finish the 2018 edition of the GGR returns!

Tapio Lehtinen from Helsinki is a life long sailor who started in Optimist dinghies at the age of 6. A former Commodore of the Helsingfors Segelsällskap (HSS) Yacht Club, his experience ranges from racing Lasers, 470s and 29ers to keel boat and ocean racing, including a three-decade-long racing career in his classic six metre May Be IV.

He has competed in the 1981/2 Whitbread Round the World Race aboard Skopbank of Finland, the 1985 Two handed Round Britain and Ireland Race, the 2-STAR transatlantic race 1986, the Azores and Back race in 1987 and the 2014 Bermuda Race.

He says of GGR:

I am participating because I love sailing, I enjoy being at sea. I accept the challenges, but I am not a risk taker. I take pride in preparing well and sailing in a seamanlike way. I’m competitive, but realise that in order to do well in this race, I first have to finish.

Tapio Lehtinen will be campaigning a Benello Gaia 36 , a Sparkman & Stephens design that won the first One Ton Cup in 1965. A long keeled forerunner to the Nautor Swan 36, which he sailed from the Mediterranean back to Finland in 2017, prior to her being extensively refurbished at the Nordic Refit Centre in Larsmo. Built in 1965, Asteria is the oldest boat entered in the GGR, and work to restore her to racing standard has been extensive. Her deck moulding has been replaced and the interior stripped out to leave a bare hull prior to rebuilding with stronger bulkheads and fastenings. 

Asteria, while beautifully prepared and virtually completely rebuilt, was short on sea time for the 2018 edition and was plagued by engine, electrical, anti-fouling and barnacle problems that killed all chance of being competitive. Tapio plans to return with one of the best prepared and trialed yachts and skippers for the 2022 edition. This will be the race of his life in a classic yacht.

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Confidential Entry

Golden Globe Race : Time credit for the rescuers - why did "Asteria" sink?

Kristina Müller

 ·  29.11.2022

Rescuers back in regatta mode

Both participants in the retro regatta around the world then resumed their course and continued the race. Neuschäfer had previously been able to drop Tapio Lehtinen on a freighter heading for China. The race organisers of the Golden Globe Race have now announced that the South African will be credited with 35 hours for her efforts, the Indian Tomy with twelve. In the spirit of good seamanship, both had left their actual course for hours. According to the organisers, information on the weather conditions and developments during the rescue operation were also included in the calculation for the credit.

Despite the time-consuming and energy-sapping action - the single-handed sailor steered almost exclusively by herself during her search for Lehtinen - she is again in second place in the widely spread field. With 219 nautical miles, she has also set the best record so far. A good 600 nautical miles separate her from the leader Simon Curwen, who already has about half the distance of the southern Indian Ocean in his wake. Around 130 nautical miles behind her is Abhilash Tomy in third place in the race around the world, which he took part in during his media stop off Cape Town. has recently voiced so much criticism . Austria's Michael Guggenberger is currently in fourth place.

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Mysterious demise of Tapio Lehtinen's "Asteria"

Even ten days after the Finnish skipper's Gaia 36 "Asteria" ran aground in the Indian Ocean, the cause is still unclear. Conditions were calm at the time of the accident. Tapio Lehtinen confirmed this to YACHT, which reached him on the satellite phone of the bulk carrier "Darya Gayatri".

The 64-year-old reported how quickly everything happened. He was asleep when he was woken by a loud bang. The ship then filled with water over the stern in a very short time. Lehtinen was able to pull himself to safety in the life raft and saw his boat, which he had sailed in the Golden Globe Race four years ago, sink.

Lehtinen himself was unable to clarify the speculation about the cause of the sinking. "I don't know," said the experienced sailor. He simply could not explain what had happened, especially as he himself had meticulously prepared his ship for the rigours of the voyage and, among other things, had installed watertight compartments. If anything, says Lehtinen, the water could perhaps have come through one or two defective shipboard outlets - the bang in this case may have been the loud noise when one of the watertight bulkheads gave way under the water pressure. However, he is not entirely convinced by his own theory and is apparently at a loss himself as to what could have actually caused the water ingress.

Repairs and setbacks

Only nine of the 16 sailors are still in the race. Two of them have not yet passed Cape Town and therefore have little chance of reaching the next intermediate destination of Hobart in the specified time by 31 January 2023. The two soloists still sailing the Atlantic are Guy Waites from Great Britain and Arnaud Gaist from France. The former has reported from on board that he has given up trying to remove the heavy fouling on his hull at sea. He now wants to get his boat, a Tradewind 35, out of the water in Cape Town and clean it. Should he then resume the race, he would continue in the so-called Chichester Class, in which all those who make a stop ashore during the Golden Globe Race are classified.

The future of his fellow competitor Arnaud Gaist's race is also more than uncertain. He recently reported serious problems with the rig of his Barbican 33 MKII. Apparently the mast support is unstable and there are problems with the lower shrouds and the bowsprit.

The same cable also broke on board the 27-year-old American Elliot Smith, shortly after the youngest participant in the Golden Globe Race had completed the obligatory interview stop in Granger Bay off Cape Town. Smith was apparently able to get to grips with the construction site on his own and without having to make landfall. He is now making a second attempt to cross the Indian Ocean, which has so far proved far tamer than expected for the leading sailors in the field.

Golden Globe Race: What has happened so far

• Golden Globe Update 8: Neuschäfer rescues Lehtinen from distress at sea
• Golden Globe Update 7: Emotional moments off Cape Town
• Golden Globe Update 6: Cape Town in the wake, Neuschäfer in second place
• Golden Globe Update 5: New breach on board the "PRB"
• Golden Globe Update 4: Three new videos from the high seas
• Golden Globe Update 3: Sailors reach first media stop
• Golden Globe Update 2: Shipwreck at Guy de Boer in the Canary Islands
• Golden Globe Update 1: Break, comeback and the first task

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Golden Globe Race lifesaving regulations, Asteria sinking, lessons to be learnt

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Published on November 21st, 2022 | by Editor

Abandon boat: Sunk in five minutes

Published on November 21st, 2022 by Editor -->

When 2022-23 Golden Globe Race front-runner Tapio Lehtinen was woken by a loud noise, he had five minutes to escape his sinking boat . Translated from Finnish publication Ilta-Sanomat , he shares some details from a cargo ship en route to China:

Lehtinen, 64, managed to lower the life raft into the water, and thanks to the good weather, he was able to calmly wait for the rescuers, who arrived a day later.

He still can’t believe that after careful preparation, the Asteria boat sank in five minutes.

“During those five minutes, the thought that this could not be possible was running through the back of my head. I was able to react to the situation without panicking and without getting nervous, but I also had a bit of a problem with me because the weather was so good.”

After reaching the life raft, Lehtinen watched his beloved boat sink below the surface of the water. After two days since the accident, the cause remains a mystery to him. Asteria was completely rebuilt five years ago before the previous round-the-world sailing organized in 2018.

“It was built as a bomb-proof tank, so that I would never have thought that out of the 36 boats participating in these two races, it would be the Asteria that would sink.”

According to Lehtinen, the boat did not crash into anything, noting how he woke up to a bang from the stern of the boat, which may could have been inside or outside the boat.

“I lived in symbiosis with the boat for 13 months, so even in my dreams I reacted to the boat’s changes.”

It took the skipper about 20 seconds to get out of his cramped sleeping quarters, by which time water was quickly coming in from the stern area.

The boat had three watertight bulkheads in the bow and two watertight bulkheads in the stern, and all the hull penetrations were on the back side of the forward bulkhead at the stern of the boat. If a hose were to break, the leak would be confined to the stern of the boat, which it wasn’t.

“The water was coming from behind at such a high speed that the only thing I can imagine is that one of the biggest openings would have failed completely and filled the rear compartment with water and led to the failure of the watertight bulkhead. But I still wonder if a hole with a diameter of ten centimeters is enough to fill the boat in five minutes.”

MORE : In a blog post by Peter Foerthmann, he speculates how the stern may have incurred significant damage due to the auxiliary rudder system. For photos and details, click here .

Event details – Entry list – Tracker – Facebook

2022 GGR competitors: Abhilash Tomy (43) / India / Rustler 36 Arnaud Gaist (50) / France / BARBICAN 33 MKII (long keel version) Elliott Smith (27) / USA / Gale Force 34 Ertan Beskardes (60) / UK / Rustler 36 Guy Waites (54) / UK / Tradewind 35 Ian Herbert Jones (52) / UK / Tradewind 35 Jeremy Bagshaw (59) / South Africa / OE32 Kirsten Neuschäfer (39) / South Africa / Cape George 36 Michael Guggenberger (44) / Austria / Biscay 36 Simon Curwen (63) / UK / Biscay 36

Retired Edward Walentynowicz (68) / Canada / Rustler 36 (dropped out, Sept. 8) Guy deBoer (66) / USA / Tashiba 36 (ran aground, Sept. 16) Mark Sinclair (63) / Australia / Lello 34 (retired in Lanzarote, Sept. 22) Pat Lawless (66) / Ireland / Saga 36 (retired in Cape Town, Nov. 9) Damien Guillou (39) / France / Rustler 36 (retired in Cape Town, Nov. 14) Tapio Lehtinen (64) / Finland / Gaia 36 Masthead sloop (sank off Cape Town, Nov. 18)

About the 2022 Golden Globe Race On September 4, 2022, the third edition of the Golden Globe Race started from Les Sables d’Olonne, France. Sixteen skippers will face eight months of isolation sailing 30,000 miles across five oceans solo non-stop and unassisted.

In 1968, while man was preparing to take his first steps on the moon, a mild mannered and modest young man was setting out on his own record breaking voyage of discovery. He had entered the original Golden Globe. Nine men started that first solo non-stop sailing race around the World. Only one finished. He was 29 year old Sir Robin Knox Johnston. History was made. Navigating only with a sextant, paper charts and an accurate and reliable time piece, Sir Robin navigated around the world.

In 2018, to celebrate 50 years since that first record breaking achievement, the Golden Globe Race was resurrected. It instantly gained traction with adventurers, captivated by the spirit and opportunity. Eighteen started with five finishers.

To embrace the original race, competitors must sail in production boats between 32 and 36 feet overall and designed prior to 1988 that have a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing edge. Additionally, sailors have limited communication equipment and can use only sextants, paper charts, wind up clocks, and cassette tapes for music.

Source: GGR

Tags: Golden Globe , Peter Foerthmann , Tapio Lehtinen

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