SA’s ‘golden girl’ has the wind in her sails as she chases history
She has been a free and adventurous spirit from an early age with a curiosity that is never quenched
Annette Neuschäfer, mother
● A South African woman taking on giant ocean swells all alone for the past two months in a gruelling round-the-world yacht race without modern navigation equipment says she has seldom felt better.
Kirsten Neuschäfer’s only company aboard a 36ft yacht has been an exhausted flock of birds hitching a ride after being blown off-course by tropical weather.
Neuschäfer is one of the favourites to win the challenge, a non-stop around-the-world solo yacht race in “vintage” yachts, navigating with a sextant and by the light of the stars. No woman has ever finished the race. Nor any South African.
It’s just the third edition of the Golden Globe Race in 54 years, and already three of the 16 contestants have pulled out — one after running aground. 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.
But no such problems yet for Neuschäfer, 39, with the fastest average time of the fleet since leaving France on September 4. She was lying third nearing South Africa. She will be allowed to approach the Port of Cape Town breakwater for a mandatory check-in — to drop off and receive messages — before departing on a daunting leg through the Southern Ocean. Contestants must carry enough food and water to last the estimated eight-month journey or gather their own en route.
Speaking via satellite phone this week — only limited contact is allowed as per race rules — she mentioned seeing whales and seabirds, a sure sign of getting closer to home. “I saw a shark this morning, and petrels and terns. The water is starting to get full of life,” she said.
She picked up unexpected hitchhikers off the coast of Senegal, insects and exhausted birds. “At one stage I had seven or eight birds on the boat — three different species,” she said. “It had something to do with a tropical depression that blew them offshore. They were 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.”
Unlike other contestants who have shown signs of mental strain, Neuschäfer was in her element. “I don’t know why I’m enjoying myself more than I usually do. I’m feeling really good, having a fantastic sail.”
On the absence of modern equipment (excluding the satphone) she said: “I’m loving it, not having the GPS and being pretty disconnected. It’s interesting, because it makes you a lot more observant and you think about all the things you’ve learnt about weather systems.”
Those who know Neuschäfer say her adventurous youth, involving several lengthy solo expeditions, may explain her relative comfort in conditions many find stressful. Her mother, Annette Neuschäfer, said her daughter’s travels began after school when she spent five years working odd jobs while criss-crossing the globe, including a stint training huskies in Finland.
She cycled alone north to south across Africa. “Her determination took no heed of any pleas from her family or friends to ditch such a preposterous idea,” said Annette.
Her daughter had an affinity with the great outdoors and wild animals, possibly due to her upbringing on a smallholding outside Gqeberha with pets ranging from field mice to hedgehogs, and a lamb and pig that she reared. “She has been a free and adventurous spirit from an early age with a curiosity that is never quenched,” Annette said, adding that her daughter inherited her thrill for sailing from her father who had “always tinkered with boats”.
“She enjoys life to the full and finds the planet and its inhabitants far too amazing not to explore and enjoy.”
Other jobs included tour guiding in the Arctic, sailing film crews around Antarctica and delivering yachts to just about everywhere.
Neuschäfer’s close friend and manager Jerome Drnovsek described her as a “force of nature” who sometimes tried to “drag” friends into her adventures. “I learnt a lot hitchhiking with her. She taught me the basics, and we hitched together a few times, most notably from Slovenia to San Marino, and we visited Andorra together before she fully started her cycling trip back home.”
Asked about her plans after the Golden Globe, Neuschäfer quipped that she may just keep on going.
She also confided about talking to herself during the long hours of solitude. “I’ll give myself a command, and I’ll answer myself. Sometimes I will change the language.”
The Golden Globe Race was inspired by the 1966 odyssey of British yachtsman Francis Chichester, who became the first person to sail solo around the world via the five Great Capes. He was knighted for his efforts, and prompted other sailors to go one better, a non-stop race around the world. By winning the inaugural 1968/69 race, and being the only contestant to finish, Robin KnoxJohnston was the first to achieve this feat.
Dubbed a “retro race”, the rules attempt to recreate the conditions Knox-Johnston endured more than half a century ago.