Solo sailor Tapio Lehtinen got into sea distress on Friday morning in the Southern Arctic Ocean. Lehtinen’s daughter Silja Frost says that she trusted her father’s survival after the sinking of the Asteria ship.
18:09•Updated 18:35
Participant in the Golden Globe Race sailing competition Tapio Lehtinen sent a distress signal from his ship Asteria on Friday morning. Lehtinen saved himself from a sinking ship and spent the night in a lifeboat.
Lehtinen got help on Saturday morning first from his closest racing partner From Kirsten Neuschäferand after that from a cargo ship that has been alerted for help.
Lehtinen’s daughter Silja Frost says Tapio Lehtinen in Sailing’s press release, that the worst part of the situation was the uncertainty about his father’s health.
– The wait between the emergency signal and the first text message was unnerving. When something was clearly very wrong, it seemed likely that the Asteria might have sunk. It was unclear what Tapio’s situation was, so we all had to prepare for bad news as well.
According to Frost, after Lehtinen communicated that he was safe, the worry decreased, because he knew his father was an experienced seafarer.
– The relief was huge when the first message from Tapio finally arrived. After that, we trusted that everything would be alright. However, Keli was moderate, race friends Kirsten and Tommy and the nearest ship is also relatively close. Tapio has a lot of experience and nerves of steel, Frost continues.
After getting into the rescue boat, Lehtinen watched from the side as Asteria sank under the surface of the sea, invisible in five minutes. Frost tells a memorable detail from the Friday morning when he heard about his father’s accident.
– The absurdity of the situation materialized in a dramatic way. When I heard about what happened on Friday morning from my brother on the phone, I started walking to the subway to get to Tapio’s mother. At the same time, in the tunnel of the University of Helsinki, someone played the Titanic theme song on the cello. The situation felt completely crazy, so My Heart Will Go On even laughed in the middle of it. Fortunately, this story has a happier ending.
The release states that Lehtinen’s satellite phone broke or fell during the sinking of the ship, so the immediate family has not been able to contact the sailor by phone. Lehtinen is currently traveling aboard a cargo ship towards the Chinese port of Rizhao.
– We are still waiting to get in touch with the Darya Gayatri ship to hear what has happened. We just received a text message from the ship, in which Tapio said that he had taken a shower, got dry clothes and warm soup to eat, says Lehtinen’s background team.