Kirsten Neuschäfer on the winning the Golden Globe Race and her boat Minnehaha.

WOW is all we can say. What an incredible guest! Meet Kirsten
Neuschäfer who won the Golden Globe Race in 2022. The Golden
Globe Race is a solo around the world sailing race and it took
Kirsten 233 days to complete it. 


Not only is she the only female to win the race, she is also the
first South African to win the GGR. As well as that, during the
race she rescued fellow competitor Tapio Lehtinen whose boat sank
in the Indian Ocean.


Kirsten has a wonderful and simple philosophy for  life.
When someone says ‘it can’t be done’ she replies ‘have you tried
it?. No? Well then, let’s try’. When she was just 22, Kirsten
cycled home from Europe. A short hop of just 15,000km to South
Africa to explore the Continent she is most passionate about,
Africa. She started that journey with the words ‘let’s
try’. 


Her love of boats goes back to childhood. She grew up inland but
went to the coast on holidays and just felt at home. She spent
time in a dinghy with her friends at the Hartbeespoort Dam and
thought ‘I think I would like to take to the Seas some
day.’ 


Kirsten has been professionally sailing since 2006. She has
specialised in high latitude sailing, taking film crews to places
like South Georgia, the Falklands, Patagonia and the Antarctic
peninsula.


Kirsten was inspired as a young person by one of her older
brother’s best friends who was a ‘can do everything person’.
Nothing was impossible for him and this left a big impression on
Kirsten. He would always just find a way. 


Through the podcast we delve into Kirsten’s 233 days at sea with
her boat ‘Minnehaha’. We talk about life leading up to the point,
all that she learned and her seeming never ending knowledge of
weather and climate, which makes us smile to hear her say ‘I am
not expert’. We disagree!


She says winning the race was incredible, and when people ask her
how it feels to be a woman who won the race she says she only
really thinks that she was a person who worked incredibly hard to
win the race and prepare her boat and that for her is the most
important part. 


Kirsten says that being seen as a role model has taken time to
sink in and wishes that there were more females in the sport as
well as the industry. She says there is no difference between
male and female and it’s a traditional construct we need to get
past. 


Listen on to learn about electrophysics, wildlife encounters, why
she would like to be able to breath under water and how one day
she might just write a book so she doesn’t forget what happened
as perhaps another adventure is looming. We cannot wait to see
what she does. 


As a parting thought Kirsten reminds us that everything starts
with one step and you will eventually take enough steps to have
completed the journey. She is humble, funny and has an incredible
philosophy in life and we hope that you hear the love and
brilliance that she shares with us and as always we hope you
leave the podcast loving the weather and climate just that little
bit more. 


You can follow Kirsten here:


Website: https://kirstenggr.com/


Instagram: @kirstenggr


LinkedIn: https://za.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-neusch%C3%A4fer-275822197 


As well
as here https://goldengloberace.com/skippers/kirsten-neuschafer/