After the rush of victory: On board with Kirsten Neuschäfer on "Minnehaha"
Morten Strauch
· 01.05.2023
Kirsten, are you happy to be back on land? After eight months of loneliness, now the big media hype. You don't actually like being in the spotlight, do you? Did you even have a Moitessier moment (book is on the shelf) and would have loved to turn round and sail on?
Yes, I had Moitessier moments when I thought it would be difficult to come back because I knew what it was like in Les Sables at the starts and finishes. It's not really my thing to be in the limelight and have so many people around me. On the other hand, the people in Les Sables-d'Olonne are so enthusiastic and excited about the whole thing that I get carried away. I don't want to let people down either. They are so full of energy and perseverance in waiting to welcome you - you have to feel very honoured. But now I've been back on land for two days and I've only slept six hours in total and I'm starting to realise that tiredness is catching up with me. But it's very nice. My mum, my uncle and friends have travelled here, which of course makes me very happy. Little things like eating a croissant or fresh vegetables are also wonderful.
As soon as you arrived, you had a large tub of ice cream in your hand. Is that what you missed most?
I just love eating ice cream and everyone knows that. It has somehow taken on a life of its own and I just play along with it. If someone asks me what I fancy most after a tour like this, I say "ice cream". Before I could go ashore, I had already been handed the sundae.
You've already cycled from Europe to South Africa on your own, and the GGR isn't exactly without danger either - is there anything you're actually afraid of?
Kirsten thinks for a few seconds ...
I can't think of anything right now. But I think that if something really dangerous were to befall me, I would certainly get scared, which is something you need to be able to survive. But I don't get scared when I think about something that could be dangerous from a distance.
But nothing else? No fear of spiders or claustrophobia or vertigo?
But there is something. I don't like going to the doctor at all. Even a small injection scares me. Scalpels, needles and doctors - that's something terrible for me!
At the press conference, you told us that you read Tapio Lehtinen's book during the race - in Finnish. How is it that you speak this rather exotic language?
When I was 19, I moved to Finland for two years to train sled dogs. The language really fascinated me back then and I was able to speak it fluently quite quickly. Today, 18 years later, it's all a bit slower, but I've had a lot of time travelling.
Then Tapio was rescued after his accident in the Indian Ocean by a person who speaks Finnish, of all things. He must have been doubly pleased! How did the rescue mission go from your perspective?
Tapio was about 110 nautical miles away from me when the call for help came. I stood at the helm all night, and in the morning, shortly after sunrise, I found him - although I had to realise how difficult it is to spot a liferaft between the waves in the sea. Tapio was on the radio and could see me, but I couldn't see him. So he guided me directly to him by giving me continuous commands such as "more port, starboard" and so on.
Once I had him on board, the first thing we did was have a sip of rum. He was super happy to have finally got out of his little life raft. In addition to the successful rescue itself, it was a valuable experience for me to see how positively Tapio dealt with the whole situation. You can learn a lot from this about how to get through difficult situations with positive energy.
Are you already planning your next assault on a record or participation in another offshore regatta? The question of the Vendée is an obvious one.
I live by the saying "Never say never". But I'm not currently planning to do that. I'm not really a competitor by nature. I prefer challenges where I have to find my own strengths. I prefer to do things like that on my own, like my cycle tour through Africa, for example. The challenge is to stand up to the elements of nature and overcome my own weaknesses and not compete against other people. So I don't know if the Vendée is right for me. I took part in the GGR with great enthusiasm, but the Vendée would be a significant step up from the competition. But who knows? Maybe I won't sail for six months and then I'll suddenly work up an appetite.
What do you have planned for the next few months?
I want to go back to South Africa and see my family again, especially my father and my dogs. I have a corner down there that is like paradise for me: the pristine coastline of Transkei. There is almost nothing better than spending a few days with my dogs walking along this beautiful and wild coastline. Wild camping with a campfire and stargazing.
