ROLAND KASSLIN RETIRES
4 February 2022
Roland Kasslin, has retired as Baltic Yachts’ Head of Research and Development. Following a distinguished 43-year career, during which he played a fundamental role in the company’s mission to innovate and build Lighter, Stiffer, Faster, Greener yachts – Together, he will remain working with Baltic Yachts as a consultant.
His abilities as a free-thinking, problem-solving engineer have been behind many of the company’s celebrated innovations, most recently foil technology, electric propulsion and hydrogeneration.
His skill in bringing external expertise together, to help find ways to develop ideas which, initially, might have looked impossible, has been instrumental in establishing the enviable reputation Baltic Yachts enjoys today.
Roland’s vast accumulation of engineering knowledge, together with a warm, friendly and engaging persona, have earned him deep respect and many friends both at home in Finland and throughout the world of yachting and yacht building.
His work as an engineer is evident in all the yachts Baltic Yacht has launched – his favourite? “It has to be Visione – she was simply way ahead of her time,” said Roland.
Today, as Roland looks forward to a well-earned retirement, he leaves a Design department employing 25 people.
One of his children, Joakim, who has been working for Baltic Yachts for some years, will take over part of his father’s work, looking particularly at laminate load calculations and other engineering issues.
With three children (two engineers and a teacher) and six grandchildren, Roland will undoubtedly have his hands full in retirement in his home town of Larsmo and enjoy escaping to his summer house and motor boat when he can!
But for now, we wish Roland a long and happy retirement and thank him for a legacy which has done so much to establish Baltic Yachts as one of the world’s great yacht building companies.
(We will be publishing a more detailed account of Roland’s career in the upcoming Baltic Log Spring edition)