Kirsten Neuschäfer is currently just above the “no-go zone” in the Pacific Ocean waiting on winds to pick up so she can head towards Chile.
Global (25 January 2023) – Kirsten Neuschäfer has been taking the Golden Globe Race by storm. She is currently the only female competitor in the race and has managed to solo-sail her way from Les Sables d’Olonne France and is now in the Pacific Ocean, making her way towards the tip of South America.
The Golden Globe Race sees solo skippers tackling the greatest challenge by sailing around the world, alone and without GPS.
The race is incredibly challenging because it is a circumnavigation race based on the original 1968 circumnavigation. This means that competitors are only allowed to use boats and equipment from 1968 and the years prior. That means no modern GPS technology onboard. Each ship is however equipped with modern technology which can only be used in case of emergency, and a rescue is needed.
39-year-old Gqeberha-born Kirsten Neuschäfer is the first woman from South Africa to compete in the race and the second-ever woman to enter the race. She has been sailing since her youth but took it up as a career in 2006. Over the last two decades, she has been a force within the sailing community.
Her sailing has taken her all over the world but she has specialised in expeditions to South Georgia, The Antarctic Peninsula, Patagonia and the Falklands. She has even taken several film crews to these areas to film various series for National Geographic and the BBC.
Kirsten set sail from Les Sables d’Olonne France on the 4th of September 2022 and still has a while to go before finishing, she and her fellow skippers will sail to the five Great Capes before heading back towards France. It can take anywhere from seven to nine months out on the water.
You can track Kirsten’s progress live on the website. She is currently just outside one of the ocean’s “no-go zones” in the Pacific Ocean, having sailed past New Zealand. She will be heading towards the Chilian coastline and round into familiar waters near the Falkland Islands in the coming weeks before sailing up through the South Atlantic Ocean and on towards her return to France.
You can hear her latest voice call explaining how she is currently feeling here. She is finding this section of the race to be quite frustrating. She is struggling with winds which are more south but there is a ruling she is not able to go further south due to the “no-go zone”. She is keeping busy by reading and doing maintenance.
She has avoided scraping barnacles off her boat as she is currently spotting sharks and seals in the area around her. So to be safe, she is avoiding that task for the time being.
Seventeen skippers started the race and today, there are only seven who are racing for the winning title. Of them, there are two South Africans. Kirsten and Jeremy Bagshaw. We will update you on his progress in a second article so stay tuned!
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