Non-stop circumnavigation: Susanne Huber-Curphey: Once around the world is not enough

Susanne Huber-Curphey is on the verge of crossing her own wake and becoming the first German non-stop circumnavigator. And that's not all: after just over 200 days at sea, the experienced single-handed sailor from Ingolstadt with thousands of miles in her logbook clearly has no desire to make landfall any time soon and - like Bernard Moitessier 50 years ago - simply wants to keep on sailing.

In mid-June, Huber-Curphey was in Portland on the US East Coast to take part in the "Longue Route" a flotilla around the world in memory of the French sailing legend Bernard Moitessier. Fifty years ago, he voluntarily gave up his chances of winning the first single-handed race around the world, the 1968/69 Golden Globe Race: After passing Cape Horn, he did not sail back to Europe but continued eastwards, only coming ashore again in Tahiti after one and a half non-stop circumnavigations.

This is apparently what Susanne Huber-Curphey is now planning to do on her aluminium yacht "Nehaj", as reported by the organiser of the Longue Route and Trans Ocean e.V. The TO quotes from an email from Huber-Curphey dated 29 December 2018:

"All that's missing is this little bit to cross your own course line and 388 degrees of longitude lie in your wake. Since 2015, Nehaj has 'almost' circumnavigated the world twice and I have done it a fourth time. Reason enough to celebrate, sail to South Africa and spoil Nehaj and me a little (scrubbing the deck, hugs and chats with loved ones, eating a peach or even a hot shower) - you'd think.... if it weren't for the 'USR'! That's my abbreviation of the 'Unspeakable Route', which makes my head spin: to continue sailing non-stop eastwards, just like 'Joshua' 50 years ago. Nehaj and I agree that we want to sail the real 'La Longue Route' by Bernard Moitessier! We're both doing great and this route is actually quite obvious, isn't it?"

Susanne Huber-Curphey has dedicated her life entirely to long-distance sailing and has considerable experience on the world's oceans. From 2007 to 2011, for example, she sailed around the world off the barefoot route: single-handed, but on a parallel course with her husband Tony Curphey, who also sailed alone. He has also joined the current "Longue Route", but is currently still in the middle of the Pacific. Susanne Huber-Curphey published a book about her trip around the world as a couple with Delius Klasing Verlag.In 2017, she became the first woman to complete a single-handed crossing of the Northwest Passage. A "normal" non-stop circumnavigation would therefore have been almost surprising given her previous adventures.