‘I don’t let fear stop me,’ says triumphant SA yachtswoman Neuschäfer

JOHANNESBURG – South African Kirsten Neuschäfer was named female 2023 Rolex World Sailor of the Year at an awards ceremony in Malaga, Spain in November.

Eyewitness News spoke to the yachtswoman who was the only woman among 15 competitors set off from Les Sables-d’Olonne, in France.

After 235 days at sea aboard her sailboat Minnehaha, the South African became the first woman to both complete and win the Golden Globe Race.

"It feels good and I'm honoured. I'm not ordinarily a racing sailor up until the Golden Globe Race, an unknown in the sail racing world I sailed as an equal, as the only female in a race with 15 other male sailors - which was irrelevant to me - and managed to win. I'm humbled by the recognition from the world's top sailing judges and institutions. I didn't expect it.”

The solo Golden Globe race also known as “A Voyage for Madmen” debuted in 1968 with much of the competition taking place in the high latitudes of the Southern Ocean, circling between South Africa and South America, around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, an area known for punishing winds and towering waves.

“I think after the trials and tribulations of getting to the startline, and spending eight months alone at sea, I'm as confident as ever, that I am mentally robust. Of course there are tough times, but I managed to push on through them - and coming out on the other side was always a good feeling, a confidence booster and a sure sign to me that I am doing alright. I also know that physical exercise helps keep the mind healthy.”

The 40-year-old and other competitors raced solo, non-stop, and in boats that are reminiscent of the ‘Golden Age’ of solo sailing the yachts had to be designed before 1988 and are without electronic instruments or autopilots.

Neuschäfer’s boat Minnehaha is a Cape George 36, launched in 1988.

“I love sailing especially alone. I love having to make all the decisions and be solely responsible. I love being at sea for long passages and being brought alive by the sea. I had only dreamed of sailing around the world and when the race came up on the circuit in 2018, I was certain that it was just my thing.”

Neuschäfer told Eyewitness News that the scary moments of the race were the heavy weather sailing in the Southern Ocean with 60knot winds, and 7m swells but because she knew she had a good boat and had taken no shortcuts in preparing her.

“I first got sailing on the Hartebeestpoort dam as a child on small dinghies and windsurfers not as a regular activity but anytime the opportunity came up to go with friends who had little sailboats. I knew then I loved it.”

Not afraid to push the limits, Neuschäfer at the age of 22 cycled from Europe back home to South Africa. She covered a distance of 15,000 km over approximately one year.

“I had a dream to travel through Africa from North to South. I liked cycling, and a bicycle is what I could afford. I've always loved the outdoors so the idea of forging my way across a continent and the continent that I was born in and love the most, excited me. A journey into the unknown sleeping under the starry skies, and getting to know the people who live in all the countries I would cross appealed to me. I simply had to try it.”

She cycled throughout the Northwest and Central Africa into Southern Africa and eventually ended in Cape Agulhas.

Neuschäfer Eyewitness New that she does worry about safety during her adventures and tries to mitigate dangers by staying alert.

“ Listening to my gut feeling about situations, being cautious, listening to local knowledge on potentially dangerous situations, doing my research and preparing - knowing about the storms, knowing about what evasive action to take, foreseeing breakage before it happens, constantly doing maintenance work to prevent breakage, coming with the right medical supplies, and looking after myself in every step I take, to avoid injury and illness. But I try not to fear the things that might never happen, and I don't let the fear stop me from going on my adventures.”

The Pretoria-born yachtswoman has sailed to Antarctica and South Georgia and has had the pleasure of discovering some of the wildest places on the planet. One wonders what she will do next.