WHO’S RACING?

KIRSTEN NEUSCHÄFER GOLDEN GLOBE RACE

The 38-year-old South African had been working since 2015 for Skip Novak’s Pelagic Expeditions. Enthused by the 2018 Golden Globe Race, she has bought a Cape George 36 and is partway through a refit. “I’m a fanatic of adventurous missions, and I love the fact that in this race there’s a greater emphasis on good seamanship and less on sailing by VPPS, polars and best possible weather routing,” she says. “The Cape George 36 is a fast and seaworthy design and although heavy displacement compared to some other designs, it has a lot of sail area to make up for that.”

JAMIE YOUNG GLOBAL SOLO CHALLENGE

The 69-year-old from the west of Ireland has been sailing since his youth. His first solo ocean race was the 1976 OSTAR, which he says taught him “self reliance, confidence and the ability to work through problems slowly and carefully”. He has also taken part in endurance races such as the Three Peaks Race and Azores and Back, and has twice sailed his boat on long expeditions to Greenland. Young will be racing the yacht he has owned for over 20 years, Killary Flyer, a 40-year-old aluminium Frers IOR design.

ANDY SCHELL OCEAN GLOBE RACE

The American/swedish charter skipper and adventurer, a regular YW contributor, runs two Swans with his company 59° North. As soon as he read about the race, and seeing his Swan 59 Icebear was eligible: “I got it – boom! It is recreating everything I enjoy, and by luck our boat qualified so that was perfect.” Schell will take three other pro crew and seven other places are already bagged by charterers on a mixture of single legs and whole race spots.