For almost 235 days Kirsten Nueschafer sailed alone via the three Capes and just over 30,000 miles to win the Golden Globe Race around the world. She was one of 16 sailors who set off from Les Sables - d’Olonne, France, on Sep. 4, 2022, and one of three who finished. Others met with a variety of complications that took them out of the race. Kirsten actually deviated from her intended path to rescue a fellow Finnish sailor, Tapio Lehtinen, from the Indian Ocean. She was 95 miles from Lehtinen when his boat sank. She sailed hard through the night to find him, a small miracle in and of itself. Kirsten delivered Tapio to a commercial vessel and returned to carry on in the race.

I met Kirsten here in Maine when asked by one of her supporters if I would make some publicity photos to help her promote the race and much needed resources. Kirsten, at that time, was working on a boat (S/V Pelagic) she had captained for National Geographic near South Georgia in the Southern Ocean. She was biding her time here in Maine awaiting permission to travel to Newfoundland where she could pick up her boat Minnehaha. This was during the blossoming COVID-19 pandemic when international travel was severely constrained. In the attached photo, Kirsten is removing barnacles, a process that would recur frequently during the big race! Fortunately swimming was a pleasant distraction as she made her way through ocean waters, checking the boat bottom while underway.

Minnehaha, her treasured friend, is a Cape George 36. All boats in the race had to be of certain vintage with no automation. This was a “retro” race designed to test both captain and vessel. Navigation was by sun and stars with the help of a sextant. Emergency gear was onboard in case of trouble, but none of the more modern instruments were allowed. It was a race to test everything, meant to be the ultimate challenge of endurance, experience and plain old fashioned guts. Kirsten and Minnehaha met the challenge and established new levels of nautical accomplishment.

Kirsten’s home is the South African Wild Coast on the Transkei coastline. She grew up sailing and was particularly smitten with outdoor adventuring which included, at age 22, bicycling from Europe through Africa, to home, a 9,000 plus mile trek in one year. It might be fun to know what she eats for breakfast!

One of Kirsten’s hoped for delights upon arrival back in France, among greetings from family and friends, was some fresh ice cream. There is a great gleeful image of her on the deck of her winning boat, enjoying a scoop of her long awaited indulgence. Another, interesting coincidence – the day of her winning arrival was also “Freedom Day” in South Africa – a celebration of democracy and free elections and the end of apartheid, also a most significant event in Kirsten’s life.

Kirsten slept her first night in port aboard Minnehaha. “This is my home,” she said.