The sky may not at all match the event that will go down in sailing history. It is as grey as the sluggish waters of the Bay of Biscay, on which "Minnehaha" is drifting leisurely towards the finish line. But there is no trace of gloom, the mood is expectant and emotionally charged. After 233 days alone at sea, sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer is now surrounded by full boats whose passengers want to experience this historic sailing moment. The South African with German roots can no longer be denied victory in the 2022/23 Golden Globe Race. She will also be the first woman to win a solo regatta around the globe - and on Liberty Day in her home country of all places. Congratulations and the first questions are shouted at Neuschäfer as she prances barefoot across the deck and hauls in the spinnaker, which is listless in the doldrums.
Neuschäfer creates history
A choir resounds across the water, led by Jean-Luc van den Heede, French sailing legend and winner of the first GGR four years ago. "Santiano", a French sea shanty that almost every child in the sailing-mad Grande Nation can sing along to. Then the time has finally come: with her arms outstretched under the now dark evening sky, the smiling, petite woman crosses the finish line off Les Sables-d'Olonne, the place where the retro regatta around the world began almost eight months ago. The same harbour where the single-handed professional race around the world, the Vendée Globe, begins and ends. Neuschäfer alternately blows his horn and poses with the South African flag in front of the journalists. The celebration picks up speed.
After friends and team members have boarded, "Minnehaha" is towed into the famous channel, whose flanks are lined with enthusiastic sailing enthusiasts. "Kirsten, we love you" and cheers fly towards the new queen of offshore sailing. Neuschäfer humbly thanks everyone for their cheers before she takes to the foredeck, equipped with a red signalling torch.
On the Vendée jetty, the obligatory champagne shower and a warm embrace with his mother, who has travelled from South Africa, take place, while the pits from the grandstand are already letting it rip. With an unmistakable accent and carried by the general euphoria, Neuschäfer confidently faces the enthusiastic audience and lets himself be celebrated.
Don McIntyre, initiator of the Golden Globe Race, introduces the press conference the next morning: "The GGR is not just a race around the world, it is a game of will that takes place in the mind and determines success. Van den Heede has confirmed this several times, and Robin Knox-Johnston 1968, who simply refused to give up despite major problems, also knows a thing or two about it. "Kirsten, you sailed an incredible race, which began four years earlier when you decided to take on the GGR. Your preparations were excellent."
At the end of the day, your mental strength was the deciding factor."
Looking back: On 4 September 2022, Neuschäfer and 15 male competitors will set off from Les Sables-d'Olonne for the second re-run of the legendary "Sunday Times Golden Globe Race" from 1968/69, which Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won back then. The rules are simple and yet the biggest handicap: only series-produced cruising yachts with a long keel that were built before 1988 and are between 32 and 36 feet long are permitted. This is to avoid a material battle. In addition, no electronic instruments may be used for navigation. In order to maintain the retro character, the old school with sextants, paper charts and towed logs will be evoked.
Neuschäfer's competition
The starting field includes mostly amateurs who have answered the call of adventure. Although Kirsten Neuschäfer has no regatta experience, she is an experienced professional skipper who has led expeditions to Antarctica, Patagonia and the Falkland Islands for adventure organiser Skip Novak. Frenchman Damien Guillou, who not only has a proven regatta profile, but also has the largest refit budget for his Rustler 36 "PRB", is regarded as the top contender for victory.
The start was tough for the South African, but she sailed confidently and carefully while the fleet decimated itself. The American Guy deBoer is stranded on Fuerteventura, Edward Walentynowicz from Canada and the Australian Mark Sinclair have already given up, and Guillou is struggling with his wind steering system, for which he has to make a pit stop back in the starting harbour after just a few days to have it repaired. As a result of the race, the retirement rate was higher than in the supposedly material-killing Vendée Globe.
At the first media stop on Lanzarote (a kind of drive-by sailing), which she reaches in sixth place, the ambitious Neuschäfer seems disappointed with the race so far, although she has already made up a few places. At the beginning of November, she reaches the next media stop in the bay off Cape Town in second place, closely followed by the Finn Tapio Lehtinen. Only Simon Curwen is ahead of her, but he is running a perfect race and doesn't seem to make the slightest mistake. In the Indian Ocean, 460 nautical miles east of Cape Town, the Finn's boat sinks within a very short time after a collision and he survives the next 24 hours in his life raft. Neuschäfer then manages the spectacular rescue of her competitor.
Neuschäfer takes the lead
After Lehtinen was transferred to a freighter, the chase for the leader Curwen continued, with a time credit of 36 hours. The Indian Abhilash Tomy, who had also been on his way to the rescue and was awarded a credit of twelve hours, will be breathing down Neuschäfer's neck from now on. The leading trio will reach Hobart in Tasmania in the same order before heading to Cape Horn.
1,200 nautical miles off the infamous cape, Curwen's wind steering system shatters during a knock-down, whereupon he has to head for a harbour in Chile to repair the essential steering aid - even if it means the end of the Golden Globe classification for the current leader. Neuschäfer therefore jumps into first place and is also the first to round the Horn. She escapes the really heavy storms, but Tomy and later Ian Herbert-Jones, who has to brave several storms with up to 60 knots of wind and is forced to go ashore in southern Patagonia, are hit harder; he also drops out of the ranking.
A duel ensues between the Indian and the South African, which demands everything from both of them, both physically and mentally. While Neuschäfer chooses a much more easterly course up the Atlantic, Tomy takes a northerly course. The adventurer is stuck in the Doldrums for an endlessly long time, while the former Indian Navy officer continues to catch up and briefly even takes the lead.
A heart-stopping finale is in the offing and memories of the finish of the last Vendée Globe, which Yannick Bestaven won thanks to a time credit, although Charlie Dalin was the first to cross the finish line. But now Neuschäfer sets off on a brilliant final sprint that takes her to the finish line with a comfortable lead. Only Simon Curwen arrived in the French sailing Mecca before then - but only in the Chichester classification due to his repair stop.
Neuschäfer stays on board
The new offshore star Kirsten Neuschäfer doesn't spend the first few nights after crossing the finish line in a hotel, but rather back on "Minnehaha", her home and sanctuary, where she can be protected and alone again when the hustle and bustle gets too much for her. On the jetties of Port Olona's harbour area, the single woman can't take a step without being surrounded by people and posing for autographs and selfies. As the euphoria of victory slowly fades and tiredness sets in, you can tell that she is finding it increasingly difficult. The tough adventurer and circumnavigator suddenly seems vulnerable. But she fights and answers every enquiry with a smile.
We are allowed on board their floating fortress for a little chat in private, where we converse in German. In addition to a painted landscape from South Africa and some greeting cards, we notice a large compass rose carved from wood hanging next to the well-stocked on-board library. A gift from her Canadian host parents on Prince Edward Island, where Kirsten prepared the ship for the GGR. Above are the coordinates of the harbour in the far north, below those of her home port in South Africa. This way she should always be able to find her way home. In the book cupboard you will find sailing classics such as Bernard Moitessier's "Der verschenkte Sieg" in French, more recent round-the-world sailing books such as Tapio Lehtinen's in Finnish and Jean-Luc van den Heede's book about his GGR four years ago.
Neuschäfer's winning boat "Minnehaha"
The Cape George 36 is a long keeler with a cutter rig and is based on William Atkins' design of the "Tally Ho Major" from the 1930s. The GRP version was built from 1979 by Cecil Lange & Son in Port Townsend, USA and, like the historical model, combines traditional aesthetics, seaworthiness and good sailing characteristics in all weather conditions. The high bulwark, the elongated deckhouse and the long bowsprit with water stay are visually striking. According to the rules of the Golden Globe Race, the boats taking part may be a maximum of 36 feet long, but bowsprits or suspensions for the wind steering system are not counted. Kirsten Neuschäfer was looking for a Cape George 36 for the retro regatta and finally found one in Newfoundland. The refit took place on Prince Edward Island, where "Minnehaha" was strengthened and, among other things, the mast, bowsprit and wiring were replaced and additional bilge pumps were installed. Only equipment and technology from the 1960s was allowed to be used.
