SAILING
South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer makes history
The most famous around the world yacht race sees history made as South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer becomes the first woman to win
The boundaries of sailing and human endurance have been shattered yet again as South African yachtswoman Kirsten Neuschäfer has become the first woman to win the Golden Globe Race.
She made history by sailing back into starting port Les Sables d’Olonne, France after spending 233 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes and 47 seconds at sea, completing an east-about circumnavigation.
History of the Golden Globe Race
Back in 1968, the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was conceived as a non-stop, round-the-world solo yacht race. Relying on basic technology of the day, which is to say nothing modern apart from a radio, a solo sailor had to leave from any UK port and return to the same port without stopping, passing all three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape Leeuwin, and the Cape of Good Hope.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston etched his name forever in the history books, joining great explorers like Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus in accomplishing something that many thought beyond the limits of human capability.
In 2018, the event was resurrected to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that original voyage. In response to the proliferation of modern races featuring teams of sailors in modern designs of ship, making use of all the latest technology, it was decided that while the start/finish line would be moved to Les Sables d’Olonne in France, the technology would be restricted to that which was available during that first 1968 race.
Unlike the one-off race designs used in other competitions, the Golden Globe would allow only production boats between 32 and 36 feet in length.
Competitors boats must be approved by being:
- Of fibre reinforced plastic construction.
- Designed prior to 1988 and have a minimum series of 20 yachts built from one mould.
- Have a hull length of between 32 to 36 feet. Bowsprits, wind vanes and outboard rudders, boomkins, pushpits and pulpits are not measured.
- Have full-length keels with rudders attached to the trailing edge.
- A minimum design displacement of 6,200 kilograms (13,700 lbs)
The only exceptions to the “no technology” rule was for safety equipment, where EPIRBs and AIS were carried on board. The use of this equipment was restricted to emergency only.
The 2022 Golden Globe Race
The third instalment of the Golden globe began on September 4, 2022 in Les Sables-d’Olonne, where 16 sailors left port on a course that would go east-about, leaving the three great capes to port and passing through four “film gates” off Lanzarote, Cape Town, Hobart and Punta del Este, where the skippers could be interviewed as they sail past without stopping and where films and letters could be passed over ship-to-ship.
Neuschäfer spent over seven months with her 36 foot Cape George cutter, Minnehaha, as her entire world. Along the way, 11 of her competitors retired from the race for a variety of reasons ranging from “personal reasons” to equipment failure. Two others made a single stop, disqualifying them from the competition.
Neuschäfer was granted an extra 35 hours to her total after she rescued a fellow competitor at sea. Finnish sailor Tapio Lehtinen’s boat, a Gaia 36 named Asteria, was sunk off Cape Town and Neuschäfer changed course to pick him up. For her effort, the Cruising Club of America named her the 2022 Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy recipient “for an act of seamanship which significantly contributes to the safety of a yacht, or one or more individuals at sea”.
Speaking to the Golden Globe Race organizers, Neuschäfer said, “We drank a rum together and then we sent him on his merry way. No congratulations needed for the rescue, everyone would do the same for another sailor, thank you guys for coordinating it,”
At the finish line, Neuschäfer said of Minehaha, “I talked to her a lot. I even got angry with her, but I love her very much. It’s a fast, elegant boat, on which I worked a lot for a year. I had the will to win as soon as I registered for the race and I did all my preparations accordingly.”
And when asked about her feelings on being the first woman to win the event, she replied, “I wanted to win, not as a woman. I didn’t want to be in a separate category but to compete on equal terms with all the skippers.”
In her accomplishment, Kirsten has prove to be more than equal to the men in her peer group, and a long way above most other men on the planet. In fact, she stands as a member of an exclusive group of just three people in history to have done what she has, no matter what gender.