Finnish sailor visits Durban
On Friday February 23,, Ari Känsäkoski from Finland spoke to keen sailors eager to learn from his experience, sharing his rousing story of pure determination. Making an unexpected stop in Durban, the Finnish sailor arrived about a month ago on his disabled yacht, Fuji.
THIS summer season at the Point Yacht Club has been an exciting one with a variety of Round the World sailors stopping in and sharing insightful, inspiring talks.
On Friday February 23, Ari Känsäkoski from Finland spoke to keen sailors eager to learn from his experience, sharing his rousing story of pure determination. Making an unexpected stop in Durban, the Finnish sailor arrived about a month ago on his disabled yacht, Fuji.
Känsäkoski was competing in the Global Solo Challenge race, a single-handed, non-stop yacht race that started in A Coruña, Spain.
His voyage began on October 21, last year, in the hopes that he would do well in the race and possibly threaten the 40ft solo circumnavigation record in his beautiful Class40 design boat. Eyeing out 137 days to sail around the globe, the experienced sailor came into some difficulty two months and one day into his expedition. Two days before Christmas, he was sailing along in a remote area of the Indian Ocean when he was dismasted. His position had him at 1 200 nautical miles from Africa and 1 000 nautical miles south of Madagascar.
Working tirelessly in the days leading up to Christmas, the capable yachtie eventually managed to rescue his mast in rolling seas and a building breeze, winching it successfully back onto his deck. Once he secured it, he began rigging up a jury mast that would enable him to sail slowly to safety. On Christmas Day, a call went out for assistance to any vessel in his vicinity, requesting fuel as his supply was low. A Japanese shipping vessel, Tomi Maru, arrived a day later and gifted him with 280 litres of MGO diesel.
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The Finnish sailor then began the long sail back to land. With options limited as to where he could head, he set his sights on Durban as the nearest port where he could get Fuji sorted. This meant that he had to sail north to get out of the westerly winds and the strong Agulhas Current before looping around towards Durban.
A third of the way into his strenuous journey to shelter, being forced to motor-sail to get out of the strong winds and currents, his fuel level was again worryingly low. By pure serendipitous chance, the nearest vessel to his position was a massive Finnish-flagged ship. Finncanopus, a brand-new Finnlines ferry was on her maiden voyage en route from China to the Baltic Sea and planned unexpectedly, due to the conflict near the Suez Canal, to also stop off in Durban. The Finnlines vessel diverted. When alongside Fuji, they transferred cannisters of fuel, together with some freshly baked bread and some delicious pancakes, to the grateful sailor.
Twenty-five days after losing his mast, Känsäkoski neared Durban. After 1 600 nautical miles of limping along, he was a mere eight nautical miles away from land when another curveball was tossed. Fuji’s engine was not happy after long hours of motoring and suffered a rip in its timing belt. For the first time during this entire month-long drama, the able seaman radioed for support, with the local NSRI, Station 5, arriving to tow him in.
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Känsäkoski fell in love with sailing when he was 12 years old. Growing out of his Lego phase, he happened to pick up a book about a couple sailing on a catamaran. Not knowing what a catamaran was, he boldly attempted to build one. He admits that his attempt wasn’t anywhere near seaworthy. Together with his encouraging Dad, they then built an Optimist that did float, launching his lifelong love for the watersport.
Forty years later, his passion for sailing is stronger than ever. And thanks to his MacGyver building skills, he was able to safely navigate his situation.
Now safely moored in Durban with his motor fixed, Känsäkoski is pondering his next move. While he is weighing up his various options, the softly spoken Scandinavian visitor is enjoying the warm hospitality of Point Yacht Club’s sailors participating in Wednesday night sailing, sharing his wealth of knowledge with the local lads.
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