60 years old | Solo sailor Ari Huusela finally gets to enjoy life

Ari Huusela I don’t miss the sea so much anymore.

That’s how much Huusela got to sail, when in 2020 he participated as the first Nordic in the Vendée Globe competition, where you sail around the world without stopping without outside help.

It took the Helsinki-based commercial pilot 116 days. The meter accumulated more than 29,000 nautical miles, about 54,000 kilometers. There are less than a hundred skippers who have reached the finish line in the competition, which is sailed every four years. More than 600 people have visited outer space as well.

The Vendée Globe is sailed with 18.28 meter long Imoca class boats, which are called the formula one of the seas. Tapio Lehtinen is currently circumnavigating the globe in the Golden Globe Race (GGR) on an 11-meter boat. The finish from Lehti is expected next spring.

Vendée You can’t get to Globe without solid experience in open sea sailing. Huusela had to participate in many preparatory Imoca class races across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and South America.

In total, Huusela’s Vendée Globe project lasted five years. He made it to the finish as the only amateur among 33 skippers. The budget of 1.5 million euros was a fraction of the competing budgets of even more than 20 million.

“Over the years, the Vendée Globe has turned into a big-budget race. It already has the stamp that amateurs don’t bother. It’s a matter of resources,” says Huusela.

Solo sailing since then, Huusela’s free time has been spent working on other hobbies that have been on the sidelines for the last few years.

Aviation, telemark free-falling, kite skiing, cross-country skiing, mountain biking and moving in nature in the fells of Lapland and Norway are the best possible way to recover after long business flights.

In his time, Huusela also ran marathons and took a mountain hiking course of the paratrooper guild, which culminated in the conquest of Mont Blanc.

Now he is learning and practicing freestyle swimming technique with his son, who enjoys triathlon Alex’s inspired.

“I’ve been messing around in the pool for 50 years, and now it’s finally time to put this thing in order,” he says.

In summer Huusela’s new seaplane license. He joined the waterplane club operating in Tuusulanjärvi.

“You can also sail on water planes when they have floats. It’s a natural way to approach the beach. It is challenging to bring the plane to shore if the wind is strong.”

Huusela spends a lot of time at her cottage in Äkäslompolo near Ylläs. It is 12 kilometers from the cabin to the Aavahelukka raven field, which is used by aviation enthusiasts.

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Aavahelukka aviation club owns a Piper PA-28 plane, which Huusela flew to Pirkkala for winter storage.

“It was a great autumn flight. Anyway, I enjoy being in nature and moving. From the Äkäslompolo cabin you can access mountain bike trails even in winter, and there is a wonderful network of trails for skiing.”

Huusela grew up in a single-parent family in a rented apartment in northern Helsinki.

“I wasn’t born with a golden spoon in my mouth. However, I’ve had big dreams since I was little. Some of them have become obsessions, towards which I have purposefully started to progress one step at a time. It took me more than 30 years to get to the Vendée Globe and progress from the aircraft assembly line at The Hague Vocational School to an Airbus captain.”

After sailing, Huusela slowly returned to working life to fly the Airbus 350 XWB plane. In the summer, he flew Finnair planes from Germany to North America. There are also enough flights for the winter.

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine closed Russian airspace, which Finnair’s routes to the east have utilized.

“Air traffic to the east is in a difficult situation. I got to fly to new destinations such as Las Vegas, Tampa and Montreal.”

from Finnair Huusela could have taken partial retirement already at the age of 55 and full retirement two years ago. Due to the financial uncertainty brought by the Vendée Globe sailing project, he signed an extension contract in good time to fly at least until he was 62 years old.

“The extension contract was personal financial management. I can cut off the extension or continue until the age of 65, if there is enough work and the medical qualification required for a commercial pilot’s license is maintained.”

Do you still have the time and enthusiasm to return to sailing or go again even around the world on a boat?

“Now there is no big fire anymore. The greatest of dreams and challenges has been achieved. But if someone made it all ready and said go ahead, I might consider it. My daughter Katarina although he has been calling me a harmless paparazzi for years and has seriously urged me to retire from those sailing jobs.”