• South African sailor Kirsten Neuschafer won the Golden Globe Race on Thursday, a non-stop, unassisted and GPS-free round-the-world race.
  • Arriving in Les Sables-d'Olonne in the evening, the 41-year-old skipper has spent nearly eight months at sea, since the departure on September 4.
  • Moved by the reception of the crowd and proud of her performance, she made history by becoming the first woman to win a race around the world.

Heroic. Let's not be afraid of words, Kirsten Neuschafer achieved a real feat by winning Thursday night the Golden Globe Race, a solo round the world race. Even more than becoming the first woman to impose herself on this format, the simple description of what this race is is enough to measure the greatness of what the South African sailor has accomplished: a circumnavigation of the globe alone, non-stop, without assistance and without technological means, forcing to navigate "the old-fashioned way", the sextant, the chart table or the compass, All without a phone and therefore without news of his loved ones. Probably one of the hardest tests in sport, at least the longest.

Kirsten Neuschäfer, who left on September 4, spent nearly eight months at sea, aboard a small 35-year-old monohull called Minnehaha, which has withstood all the storms. 233 days away from everything, left to itself, until the finish line in Les Sables-d'Olonne. The party on the strokes of 21:43 pm was beautiful, with endless applause and the cracking of a good package of smoke to greet the skipper. And the presence of his mother, who would not have missed this moment for anything in the world.


"He was the person I really wanted to see the most when I arrived, who I thought about the most, especially at the end," said the 41-year-old South African, very emotional, a few minutes after setting foot on the ground. I am full of joy, to see everyone here, this extraordinary atmosphere, I spend a moment that happens only once in a lifetime. If I have held, it is thanks to all of you, thank you. I was alone during all these months but I knew that people were dreaming with me, was there by thought, it makes all the difference in difficult times. »

Because there have been, of course. The petole in the pot au noir, when you feel like you the wind will never come that you will spend the rest of your life stuck in the middle of the ocean, the southern seas dismounted, and the fear of losing a colleague and friend, too. In the Atlantic, she diverted to rescue Finland's Tapio Lehtinen, who was adrift in his lifeboat after his boat sank. "It's extremely difficult to find a life raft at sea when it's moving. I couldn't see anything, she said on Friday morning, after a night's sleep... on his boat. There were 15 to 20 knots of wind, swell, big dips. I tried to get as close to his canoe as possible, and we finally succeeded. »


A boat chartered by the organization then picked up the unfortunate sailor, then Kirsten continued her journey, one day after another, never quite the same, even if a certain routine had to be respected: rising at dawn, small coffee, tour of the owner to check that there is nothing to repair, then adjusting the navigation devices to try to assess where the following hours will take her. "And then sleep a little too, when you can, because you never know what the next night will bring," describes the sailor.

Water jumps, reading and bird visits

Obviously, lonely all this time, she had to go deep inside herself for resources so as not to crack. His secrets? Sometimes a little jump in the water to swim, "a way to clear my mind, to get away from the race a little," she says. And then reading, including historical fiction books, her favorites, and then the book of the winner of the previous edition (2019), the Frenchman Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, "little pleasure" that she kept for the final straight, after the passage of Rio de la Plata (the estuary on the border between Argentina and Uruguay).

The sailor was also able to enjoy these suspended moments, when there is nothing to do but admire the surrounding nature. "The most special thing was when I passed Cape Town (South Africa), I was a bit adrift but I said to myself 'it doesn't matter, look around you'. There were whales, dolphins, seals. It was beautiful. The few birds that visited him on his boat will keep a special place as well. There were always a few living beings to chat with a little.


Here is Kirsten Neuschäfer, at the end of the adventure of a lifetime, in the pantheon of the great sailors of history alongside Florence Arthaud, Isabelle Autissier, Ellen MacArthur or Catherine Chabaud, the first woman to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world during the 1996 Vendée Globe and came to Les Sables to welcome her. Of the 16 starters, only two other sailors – India's Abhilash Tomy and Austria's Michael Guggenberger – are still in contention, expected in the coming days. A fourth, Britain's Simon Curwen, has already crossed the line, but out of the race after being forced to make a stopover in Chile to repair damage.

Kirsten Neuschäfer will now return home, to see her family and her dogs that she missed so much. She is already planning a short trip to the wild coast not far from Port Elizabeth, which she defines as her "little piece of paradise". Alone, but with her feet firmly on the ground, this time.

  • Sport
  • Veil
  • Around the world
  • Adventure
  • Sables d'Olonne