By crossing the finish line of the ancestor of the Vendée Globe in Les Sables d’Olonne this Thursday at 21:43:47 CET, the South African sailor has achieved one of the greatest accomplishments in ocean racing. Winner of the Golden Globe race, without assistance or technology, after 235 days, 5 hours, 44 minutes and 4 seconds of racing (final time will be determined after the calculation of penalties for using fuel and bonuses), Kirsten became the first woman to win a solo round-the-world race under sail. This achievement was celebrated in Les Sables d’Olonne, now more than ever the world capital of single-handed ocean racing.

At 40 years of age, the South African Kirsten Neuschäfer completed an eight-month long journey, alone in the face of the elements, without contact, collecting rainwater to survive. Her feat is all the more impressive as her world tour was marked by a rescue. In the heart of the Indian Ocean, she helped Finnish sailor Tapio Lehtinen. Kirsten welcomed him on her boat before he was transferred to a cargo ship and Kirsten continued her journey.

Kirsten’s performance is as unprecedented as it is impressive. The first woman to round Cape Horn in a race last February, she also became the first to win a race around the world. Many in the world of ocean racing are congratulating the South African. Yann Eliès, a regular in the sailing world, praises the sailor who “loves adventure with a capital A“.

“What she has achieved is incredible,” said Catherine Chabaud, the first woman to complete the Vendée Globe (1996-1997). “There is something extraordinary in the air,” said the sailor.

Image: Ville des Sables d’Olonne

Kirsten Neuschäfer:
“I am very happy to see all the people and this extraordinary atmosphere. Of all my adventure, I think that the arrival here with the crowd, the enthusiasm, was the most memorable. My boat was my companion. I talked to him a lot. I even got angry with her, but I love her very much. It’s a fast, elegant boat, on which I worked a lot for a year. I had the will to win as soon as I registered for the race and I did all my preparations accordingly. I wanted to win, not as a woman. I didn’t want to be in a separate category but to compete on equal terms with all the skippers. I didn’t think about the long term future but more about what I wanted to do in the near future. I want to go on long hikes in the wilderness with my dog for a few months.”

Yannick Moreau, mayor of Les Sables d’Olonne:

“This Golden Globe Race offers us a superb scenario, and a conclusion worthy of the most beautiful epics. The only woman at the start of the longest sporting event in the world came out on top and became a legend. It is truly a historic moment that we have just experienced in Les Sables d’Olonne. By her sporting feat, her courage, her heroism… Kirsten became a model and a world reference. In Les Sables d’Olonne, we are happy and proud to see her legend born.”

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