28/04/2023
What a amazing adventure and achievement!
Kirsten Neuschäfer has become the first woman to win the Golden Globe Race - a solo, round-the-world yacht race!
After almost 235 days at sea, the South African sailor from Gqeberha crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne in France at 9 pm on 27 April 2023 and became the first woman to win the round-the-world race.
This edition of the Golden Globe Race started on September 4, 2022, with 16 competitors, all men, except for Kirsten. At the time of her finish, only three competitors (herself, Tomy, and Michael Guggenberger, who was still 1,800 miles to the finish) remained in the running. Two more (Simon Curwen and Jeremy Bagshaw - also a South African) were racing in the “Chichester class”, a class created for those disqualified for making a stop but who wanted to continue to the finish anyway.
But this incredible sailer didn’t just win the race; she also won our hearts.
Kirsten made headlines earlier in the race when she stopped to help a fellow competitor!
The kind South African diverted from her race route to rescue fellow entrant Tapio Lehtinen after his Gaia 36, Asteria, sank around 450 miles southeast of South Africa. Kirsten was the closest sailor to him, 95 miles away, and was able to reach him in fewer than 24 hours, taking him aboard her Minnehaha from his life raft and later transferring him to a merchant ship that had been diverted to the scene. She earned the 2022 Cruising Club of America’s Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy for this rescue.
Good Things Guy has been following and reporting on Kirsten’s journey since the start of the race. And we couldn’t be prouder of the incredible South African and her fantastic win!
Yes, proudly South African… and PROUD of South Africa! ❤️🇿🇦
You can read her full story or more South African good things by visiting www.goodthingsguy.com.
