Gqeberha woman takes on tough global ocean race
Gqeberha’s Kirsten Neuschafer, 40, is primed to compete hard as she tackles one of the most challenging yacht races in the world — the ongoing 2022 Golden Globe Race.
In a monstrous journey expected to last about eight months, Neuschafer and 22 other entrants have embarked on the first leg of a nonstop solo sail around the world.
Marking day 18 at sea with a distance to finish of 24,455 nautical miles, her boat — the Cape George 36 — climbed steadily from fifth to fourth position overall after covering 173 nautical miles by midday on Wednesday.
Another SA entrant, Jeremy Bagshaw, found himself two places back in sixth position in his 1968 Oleanna, having covered, at that point, 155 nautical miles in 24 hours.
Journeying across 48,280km of ocean, entrants are set to sail past the five Great Capes — Cape Horn, Cape Agulhas, West Cape Howe, South East Cape and South Cape — before circumnavigating their way back to Western France, where the race began on September 4.
The event, staged every four years, is a retro-race, and sailors can only use what was available in 1968.
Between June 14 1968 and April 22 1969, British sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail singlehanded and nonstop around the world.
His voyage lasted just more than 10 months.
Paying homage to the exploits of Knox-Johnston, sailors are forced to use old-school boats and celestial navigation, leaving behind GPS or the modern communication systems they often rely upon.
Now, stripped of their dependability on useful satellite technology, a sailor’s only guides are the sun and stars, doing little to ease their nerves about the unknown.
Speaking before the official start of the race from Les Sables-d’Olonne, Neuschafer, in anticipation of the dangers that lurk out in the expansive open, said: “The Southern Ocean can sometimes get pretty wild and dangerous.
“But you have to deal with what hits you.”
Neuschafer, who has travelled throughout Northwest and Central Africa into Southern Africa, eventually arriving in Cape Agulhas, remained stoic as she prepared for the rigours of the challenge.
Adventurous and brave, she is one of the few skippers taking part in the 2022 expedition who has taken on and conquered the notorious Southern Ocean.
Neuschafer has worked for Skip Novak aboard Pelagic Australis since 2015, sailing to South Georgia, the Antarctic Peninsula, Patagonia and the Falkland Islands.
She will lean on her sailing experience to continue her ascent on the leader board and, hopefully, in less time than expected.
“In the last edition of the race, in 2018, the winner took seven months.
“On the boat, I’ll only have food, supplies and water, and no outside assistance is allowed.
“I really like this race because it’s an adventure race,” she said.
“It’s not about how hi-tech your boat was or how precision [sailing-wise] you were.
“For me, it has the adventurous and luck aspects which make the dynamic interesting.
“It [also] makes the outcome of the race unpredictable.”
Ivo Huisman, a friend and supporter, said he was confident Neuschafer had what it took to reach the finish line — and to do so in first place.
“She ’ s a remarkable athlete, one of the best ever from SA, and the country can be proud,” Huisman said.
“She’s a woman of steel and has the will to win this race.
“There are no ifs or buts about it.
“No woman has ever completed the race.
“There’s only ever been one woman who participated [in 2018], but she, sadly, pulled out.”
‘She’s a woman of steel and has the will to win this race. There are no ifs or buts about it. No woman has ever completed the race’