Finnish shipyard Baltic Yachts has announced the death of its co-founder Jan-Erik “Janne” Nyfelt on January 28.
Nyfelt was one of the five founders of the shipyard in 1973 and has "contributed greatly to what Baltic Yachts is today", the yard said in a statement.
Nyfelt's career in boatbuilding began at a young age when he worked alongside his father at a small boatbuilding shop. His practical experience landed him a role at Nautor Swan, a then-new shipyard where he was one of the first boatbuilding specialists. He worked across multiple yacht-building principles, including design, calculations, drawing and the theoretical side of creating a boat.
Nyfelt contributed to the management and development of the company until his retirement. "His legacy to the local boatbuilding industry is invaluable," said a spokesperson for the yard. "Janne was a person that had a never-ending energy always intensively involved in many things. Very keen on developing new materials and methods everything that could improve the product. Whatever he got himself involved in he was in with full energy."
"For me personally he was a great support and countless are the times we sat together solving problems, developing new things, going through the complexity of yacht design, or just discussing life in general," said PG Johansson, a fellow co-founder.
"There are no words enough to describe a person like Janne. For me, he leaves an empty space that cannot be filled but also leaves some of the best and valuable memories one can have," Johansson added.