2023-04-29 00:56:19
The new offshore racing hero is Kirsten Neuschäfer. The South African sailor made history this Thursday by becoming the first woman to win a race around the world solo, when she arrived in Les Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée) at the head of the Golden Globe Race.
The 40-year-old sailor won after 233 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes and 47 seconds (after bonuses have been applied) at sea during a crazy epic where the 16 competitors at the start had to leave Vendée before going through the three reference headings (Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn), non-stop, assistance and modern means of navigation.
Smiling and barefoot, Kirsten Neuschäfer crossed the finish line off Les Sables-d’Olonne this Thursday at 9.43 p.m., aboard her small 1988 monohull called Minnehaha, which withstood numerous storms for eight month.
“It’s incredible, it’s a lot after all these months alone,” she said, setting foot in front of a crowd of Sablais. “I am very moved and honored that there are so many people here and I don’t think I will be able to experience such a thing a second time in my life,” she added before hugging her mother to applause.
“You have to have a very strong mind”
Among the crowd, navigator Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, 77, winner of the previous edition of this vintage adventure, in 2019, came to greet a “great champion” of offshore racing.
“It’s a very tough race, there’s no communication, we’re not pushed. You have to have a very strong mind and I think Kirsten is one of the people who have a very strong mind,” he said.
Before sailing, she cycled 15,000 km
Originally from Port Elizabeth, she has been a professional sailor since 2006, specializing in the transfer and delivery of sailboats by sea. Before the start of the race in September, her first trip around the world, she told of the other “great journey of his life at only 22 years old: a cycle route from Europe to his country of origin, 15,000 km to cover.
“When it gets really hard, I read a novel like that, I can escape my own thoughts and put myself in someone else’s,” she said.
With her victory, Neuschäfer entered the pantheon of great offshore sailors of modern history alongside Florence Arthaud, Isabelle Autissier and Ellen MacArthur.
Kirsten Neuschäfer was the only woman out of 16 starters in the Golden Globe Race. Only two other sailors were still in contention this Thursday to finish the race.
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