South African sailing sensation Kirsten Neuschäfer is leading the world’s toughest ocean race, with just over 1,000 nautical miles left to the finish line.
The 39-year-old from Gqeberha has spent more than 200 days alone on the ocean in pursuit of what would be world sailing history — the first woman to finish the Golden Globe solo non-assisted race. Contestants must sail around the world without modern navigation equipment, just like their predecessors in the inaugural edition of the race in 1968.
Not only is Neuschäfer almost certain to finish the race, she is one of only a handful of contestants still in it, the others having been rescued, run aground or forced to retire. After 225 days only five of the original 16 entrants remain — and two of them have been disqualified from the “overall winner” title because they were forced to bend the rules and seek assistance.
The latest tracker information posted on the race website showed Neuschäfer still in the lead on Tuesday evening, with just more than 1,200 nautical miles left to the finishing line in France. She was sailing at a speed of 6.3 knots and covered 127 nautical miles over the past 24 hours.
However, Neuschäfer will have to hope for some help from mother nature in the form of favourable winds if she is to maintain her slim lead over second-placed sailor, Indian Abhilash Tomy, who has a more favourable position coming into the home straight. Tomy is lying west of Neuschäfer and further from the finish line, but is more likely to benefit from a strong tail wind.
One of the remaining five skippers is fellow South African Jeremy Bagshaw, who is not challenging for the lead. He has, nevertheless, impressed by shrugging off a series of major cold fronts while rounding Cape Horn.
You cannot imagine how big the seas get down there where she passed and where she also did the rescue. For two south Africans to not just be in the race but hopefully finish in France is a tremendous achievement — these are absolute heroes.
— Rear Admiral Hanno Teuteberg
Win or lose, Neuschäfer has already amazed the global sailing fraternity with her skill. She also made world sailing headlines in late November last year when she diverted to rescue a fellow contestant who had abandoned his yacht and was floating on a life raft in the deep southern Indian Ocean.
No South African has entered the race before, and only one has attempted a solo circumnavigation but capsized and never finished.
Only one of nine competitors completed the inaugural race in 1968; one committed suicide, one absconded to Tahiti to “save his soul” and the rest retired.
Neuschäfer had plenty of solo sailing practice leading up to the race. She bought her Cape George 36 monohull in North America during the height of Covid-19, sailed it back to Cape Town and from there to the race start line in France. Her previous solo adventures include a 15,000km solo cycle from Europe to South Africa at the age of 22.
Rear Admiral Hanno Teuteberg, a well-known South African sailor and former deputy chief of the SA Navy, said Neuschäfer’s achievement was exceptional: “She has taken this race by the scruff of its neck. I am absolutely amazed to see how tough she is,” he told TimesLIVE Premium.
“You cannot imagine how big the seas get down there where she passed and where she also did the rescue,” said Teuteberg, who won line honours in the 1993 Cape to Rio Race.
“For two south Africans to not just be in the race but hopefully finish in France is a tremendous achievement — these are absolute heroes,” Teuteberg said.
One of the most gruelling aspects of the race is a limit on the amount of communication with the outside world. In a rare interview last year — satellite phones are only allowed under strict conditions — Neuschäfer spoke of her joy at encountering many whales and seabirds. “I saw a shark this morning, and petrels and terns,” Neuschafer told the Sunday Times.
She also spoke of her surprise to pick up unexpected hitchhikers off the coast of Senegal — numerous insects and exhausted birds that landed on her boat after being swept way off course by unusual winds.
“At one stage I had seven or eight birds on the boat — three different species,” said a bemused Neuschäfer.
“It had something to do with a tropical depression that blew them offshore. They were a bit stranded and landed on anything they could sit on. They would usually sit and drink a bit of water — mostly they were tired. They chilled and then flew off again.”
Cape Town sailor and yacht broker Bruce Tedder said Neuschäfer and her fellow competitors had proved their sailing pedigree under the most trying conditions. “What they have done is just insane. It is remarkable,” Tedder said.
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