It was in 2019 when South African sailor Kirsten Neuschafer first heard about the Golden Globe Race. Her first thought was, “It sounds so cool”. But that was much before she set off on April 27, 2022, in a 36-foot boat Minnehaha that she rebuilt. Her friends were worried that she would return looking like some animal wrapped in a human body with ragged hair. Instead, she glowed at the fiery welcome at the finish line. She was tooting her small plastic vuvuzela to have lived her dream of not only finishing the most difficult Golden Globe Race but also winning it and becoming the first woman to have won the strenuous race since 1968. Stepping back on the land after eight months, all she asked for was, 'ice cream'.
“Nine out of ten times the race was enjoyable. I enjoyed the last few months being one with the ocean. Eight months I was the lone woman in a 16-entrant, around-the-world race,” says Kirsten over a phone call from Les Sables-d' Olonne, France. In the race, the solo competitors were required to use 60-year-old technology and celestial navigation and were prohibited from making stops in between the circumnavigation.
Living her dream
Kirsten was at sea for 235 days and had only a vague knowledge about her place in the standings of the race. When she was told by the organisers that she had won, all she could do was stare in surprise and think, 'Really?’ It has been 41 years of journey since she left her family farm outside Pretoria in South Africa, as a teenager. “I led a life of endless adventure. I always had a passion for doing something that challenged me,” she states.The Golden Globe Race was different. It first set the sails in 1968 with nine men attempting to circle the planet in sailboats. Only one man, Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, completed the circuit, and one man was declared dead by suicide.
“At sea, it's not a competition for you, but a fight to keep the mind and boat intact while sailing with no modern instrument or communication device. I spent hours and hours planning my navigation when I didn't know from which direction I would be hit by a storm in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was one of the best aspects that attracted me to the race," says Kirsten. For the race, Kirsten learned celestial navigation. She would make her calculations and check with the modern equipment if they were right. "But here, I had to completely rely on my traditional way of calculations and a small mistake can be life-threatening,” recalls the solo circumnavigator.
Entering the equator
Kirsten’s first ever sailing was on a dam on a little boat. “I knew someday I will do ocean sailing and travel the world. The seven-ocean passage from Cape Town to Cape Horn at the tip of South America is pretty straight but rounding the Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope at the Southern tip of South Africa are the most difficult points to sail, especially the Cape of Good Hope, which is touted to be the most dangerous sea for sailors,” she confirms. The South latitude is dangerous where sailors may get caught with roaring 40s (strong westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40 and 50 degree south).
Coming down and back the Atlantic is difficult and filled with various obstacles, for instance getting across the equator where one might end up in the doldrums and run out of wind. It is this time when Kirsten felt it was good to have a company on board because the sea was rough at its best. “I hoped I had some other pair of hands to help in the job I had to do alone when the winds and storm were hitting my boat all alone at sea."
Practicing sextant skills |
'Why am I doing this?'
Ironically, storms weren't a big challenge for Kirsten despite the life-threatening situations. She was more frustrated when she was stuck in windless doldrums near the equator and sat for almost two weeks. “I was distraught, certain that others had passed me. I would go swimming, see dolphins and read. I came so close to quitting the race and asking myself, 'Why am I doing this.' It was this time when I missed my family the most. Keeping your mind strong is the most difficult thing in the blue waters.” she accepts.
Sailing alone at sea, Kirsten found shelter in books. She would read historical novels and one of them was Finish by Tapio Lehtinen (a competitor's experience in the 2018 GGR race). It was the same time when she received a call to rescue a fellow sailor whose boat had sunk and he was no one else but Tapio Lehtinen. “His boat sank about 100 nautical miles ahead of me. Anyone at sea would extend help, I was happy to be in a position to get him as quickly as possible. We raised a toast to life,” she recalls.
For Kirsten, it was about finding a coping mechanism to deal with the loneliness, though she loved her time alone at sea. Her daily routine was based on celestial navigation, one cup of coffee and a meal that she would prepare once a day. Sunrise was the best time for her onboard Minnehaha. “I would have one coffee instead of three so I would enjoy that coffee so much. For breakfast, I would cook enough food to eat for lunch or supper to save gas and electricity. When it would rain, I would store the rainwater to cook meals and keep fresh water for drinking. I would go swimming and see the dolphins,” she says.
A tough world for women
Becoming the first woman sailor in the history of the Golden Globe Race to have sailed and won the race, Kirsten didn't want to win because she is a woman but to challenge herself as a sailor. “The fact that I am a woman and won the race is secondary to me. I wouldn’t want any preferential or special treatment because I am a woman. I wanted to be an equal to what I was. For that reason, I am happy that I won and if it motivates and gives meaning to other women I am happy,” she says.
She also agrees that sailing too is mostly dominated by men. For many years, Kirsten was the only woman charter skipper.
“I had to go an extra length being a woman to prove myself. I had to work harder or sometimes even take extra effort to say that I can also do it when they can do it. I can also work on engines or breaking of the boat which are considered a man's job to be able to work in the industry. For all these years of being a woman, I did feel that there's an extra effort required from a woman to be treated equally,” rues the accomplished sailor and hopes more women take up sailing. “I don't see women are any less competent than men,” says the winner of GGR in conclusion.
