Golden Globe Race 2022 - Tapio Lehtinen sinking: nobody has mentioned the whale in the room!

GGR 2022 Departure Press Conference

A few days ago, while sailing solo in the Southern Ocean, GGR2022 racer Tapio Lehtinen was woken by a bang at 8.30am. By the time he had got out of his bunk, seawater was up to his knees. It was pouring in from the engine compartment and there must have been a catastrophic breach because within the 5 minutes - just enough time to get into his survival suit, grab the main grab bag (with emergency communications equipment in it), and get into his liferaft - the boat was awash.

Within 20 minutes he was watching it sink by the stern.

In an exemplary display of seamanship, he was thankfully rescued 24 hrs later by fellow competitor, Kirsten Neuschäfer and then transferred to the safety of m/v Darya Gayatri, a bulk carrier that had also been diverted to Tapio's location. 

Details on the sinking here.

Cue the speculation on what could possibly have happened.

Naturally there's lot's of it on the Golden Globe Race's Facebook Discussion Page but now the GGR organisers have switched off all comments on the Discussion Page. I guess they are hoping to stifle all speculation on the cause of Tapio's sudden sinking, until he wants to expand on the subject. I can understand that but it rather defeats the purpose of a 'discussion' page.

I just want to add one, unlikely, possibility.

At the departure press conference in Les Sables d'Olonne, somebody (a journalist?) standing behind me, raised the issue of Orca attacks. It has become an increasing problem off the coast of Spain apparently.

There was a detectable frisson that ran around the room. It was clearly an awkward question and it was quickly, though vaguely, batted into touch.

I'd never heard of it before, but it turns out it IS a thing. The orcas (killer whales) seem to go for rudders.

Such a rapid inrush of water, especially in the watertight compartments in the stern, couldn't have been caused by, say, the failure of a sea cock. It had to have been a catastrophic failure, like having your rudder or hydrovane ripped off. And Peter Foerthmann, who knows Tapio's boat well, has speculated that the forces at work on the hydrovane mountings on such a small transom could have become critical by themselves.

I'm not aware of any reported orca incidents in the Southern Oceans but who knows if that's what Tapio encountered? It's unlikely I think. While he mentioned all sorts of wildlife in his messages before & after the incident, he never mentioned orcas. But maybe a possibility?

References...

Facebook Group for Orca attack reporting

Orca attack database

Recent NPR article

#GGR2022

PS. This blog has been dormant for a few years. I only rediscovered it recently. This seemed like an opportunity to take it out of the garage, dust it down, and fire it up again.