Author Description

Finnish sailor Tapio Lehtinen has circumnavigated three times: in the 1981 Whitbread Round the World Race, in the 2018 Golden Globe Race, and in the 2023 Ocean Globe Race. He has learned to always be prepared for the worst, to deal with any situation with calm rational thought, to always see the good in any situation, and to wear a smile and share a laugh even in the face of the worst adversity. He is an inspiration not only to all the world's sailors, but to anyone his life touches. Tapio was sailing in the 2022 Golden Globe Race, a nonstop solo circumnavigation, when he woke to a loud noise. By the time he got out of his bunk, water in the cabin was already knee deep. He barely had time to launch his life raft as his boat sank out from under him. Moments later, his boat was gone and he was alone in the life raft, 460 nautical miles southeast of South Africa, with only one of his four grab bags and no reading glasses. This is his story.