Salty Podcast: Sailing

Salty Podcast #40 |⛵️Sailed Around the World Solo Unassisted & WON!🌍Kirsten Neuschafer

• Captain Tinsley | Kristen Neuschafer • Season 1 • Episode 40

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Racing the Old-Fashioned Way! 🌊⛵️ Join me as I chat with South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer, winner of the 2022 Golden Globe Race. This solo, non-stop race challenges sailors to navigate without modern technology—no GPS, no satellite weather—and no assistance - on a 36' boat!  Podlink: https://tinyurl.com/SaltyPodcast40

Set sail with us as we welcome Kirsten Neuschafer, the extraordinary 2022 Golden Globe Race winner, who shares her captivating journey through the world's most demanding solo, non-stop sailing competition. From her current anchorage in Madeira, Kirsten reflects on the inspiration that sparked her participation, her bold choice of a heavy displacement boat, and how embracing the race's retro spirit without modern technology shaped her experience. She offers a vivid account of the physical and mental demands of solo sailing, the profound connection one cultivates at sea, and the lessons learned from both the beauty and challenges of the Southern Ocean.

Kirsten opens up about the emotional and psychological dimensions of her adventure, recounting personal stories of overcoming adversity and the mental shifts necessary to navigate arbitrary checkpoints. Her tale of a swift rescue mission at sea highlights not only her quick thinking and favorable winds but also the resilience and optimism she encountered in her fellow sailors. Through her narrative, we explore the balance between racing objectives and personal growth, and how focusing on her own journey brought unexpected joy and fulfillment. Kirsten's insights into solo sailing and the unique experiences it offers go beyond the race, touching on the art of self-conversation, silent retreats, and cultural exchanges from cycling across continents.

Concluding the episode, we delve into Kirsten's musings on the future of oceanic adventures, the role of minimal technology, and the anticipation of new journeys. Her reflections remind us of the beauty found in fleeting moments, the significance of familiar waters, and the joy of racing to one's own rhythm. With a nod to historical sailing documentaries and stories that have inspired her, Kirsten's journey is a testament to the indomitable spirit of adventure and the lessons learned from navigating life's unpredictable seas.

#SaltyAbandon #Sailing #SaltyPodcast #GoldenGlobeRace #SoloSailing #KirstenNeuschafer

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SALTY ABANDON: Cap'n Tinsley, Orange Beach, AL:
Oct 2020 to Present - 1998 Island Packet 320;
Nov 2015-Oct 2020; 1988 Island Packet 27
Feb-Oct 2015 - 1982 Catalina 25

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Capn Tinsley:

Welcome back to the Salty Podcast, where it's always a great day to talk about sailing, and this is episode 40. Before we begin, please smash that like button, subscribe, and feel free to ask questions or make a comment in the live chat on YouTube or Facebook. In this special episode, I'm thrilled to chat with South African sailor Kirsten Neuschafer, the winner of the 2022 Golden Globe Race. This solo, non-stop race around the world pushes sailors to their limits navigating without modern technology no GPS, no satellite weather, no assistance on a boat no larger than 36 feet. Join me as we dive into Kirsten's incredible journey and the challenges she faced, sailing the old-fashioned way. Let's get started, kirsten. I'm going to bring you out now.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Hi there.

Capn Tinsley:

Hello Kirsten, how are you? I'm well, thanks.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

How are you, Tinsley?

Capn Tinsley:

I'm doing great. I'm so honored to have you on. I was really surprised when you answered my I think it was Instagram and then I missed it for like a month. I was like no, so so then I made contact with you again and I was so glad that you agreed to do this. So thank you. Thank you. First of all, where are you in south africa? I don't know anything about south africa. I would like know, I'm actually in Madeira at the moment. Madeira, yeah, wait, that's not Florida. No, no.

Capn Tinsley:

Because if you weren't, there, you'd be about to get a hurricane, Exactly yeah, oh yeah, they got one barreling down on there. So where's Madeira? Madeira's in South Africa?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

No, it's in the North Atlantic. It's about a good thousand miles off the European coast.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, cool. Okay, Well, I have to look that up. I don't know anything about that. So, for those that don't know about the 1968 race, let me switch over here. Okay, I wanted to say a few words about it because, okay, so the first one was in 1968, which was the original. It was very controversial, like people didn't even think it could be done, that you could go unassisted around the world and, of course, all you have was your 1968 technology and, because of the different things that happened, some of the controversial things that happened during the race, they didn't have it again until 2018. And then you know, you did the one in 2022. So, and then, if anybody would like to know more about the 1968 race, I'm going to put on the screen three documentaries about that year, which is just fascinating. That's how I learned about it was from these documentaries on YouTube. So tell me, why would you pick that race to start with your first race?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

It's pretty incredible um tinsley, I think I was just at the point in my life where I felt it was a something I could do, that I could realistically achieve, that I could get to the start line. It's obviously got a smaller budget than some of the very professional races like the Vendee Globe or something like that, and it's primarily an adventure race.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

And I love adventure, so it really ticked all the boxes for me. I love the retro aspect of it Just a race where you really don't know what the outcome is going to be because there's so little information. Yeah, yeah, so you. So you had you had heard of it before 2018?

Capn Tinsley:

don't know what the outcome is going to be because there's so little information. Yeah, yeah, so you. So you had you heard of it before 2018?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

No, I only heard of it when the 2018 race was already underway, and then I was sort of loosely observing the race as the you know, the people were racing in 2018 and I just got more and more drawn into it and I just thought this and more drawn into it, and I just thought this is one of the coolest races I can think of.

Capn Tinsley:

So Camp 22,. Well, camp 2019, I decided I wanted to sign up for the 22 edition. Okay, and I kind of watched the Kirsten. I want to make sure I'm saying your name right.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Noyschafer Is that right, yep.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, the Golden Globe story and that was posted by Sailing Magic Carpet on YouTube, which is I'll put that up as well. That was really offered a lot of good insight, including some footage from the trip, but it told about you. Told about how you went up and got the boat out of Seattle.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, actually I got it out of Newfoundland, Canada, that's where I bought the boat, but it did originally come from the Seattle area. That's where it was built.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, all right, and you got some feedback about the boat you chose right.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

People think that wasn't a good idea, yeah initially people thought it's a very heavy displacement boat so they thought it's going to be a bit of a slow boat. But I was quite used to working on heavy boats so it suited me for the Southern Ocean. With the majority of the race taking place in the Southern Ocean, I thought that would be a pretty stable choice and it also had the longest waterline, so mathematically speaking, it has the potential to be fast.

Capn Tinsley:

So would you say, and I don't know much about that type of boat. But is it kind of like an island packet, with it being heavy, like that you think?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, I mean I'd struggled in the light airs so with it being heavy, it wasn't always an advantage. But um, it's got a tall mast and a very long boom so it carries a lot of sail area to make up for its heavy displacement, which means sailing. It is a little bit more physical because you've got that extra bit of sail to get up to the top of the mast and the long boom. But it's also comfortable because it's so heavy. It's not a boat that's tossing you and throwing you around and slamming. So if you're going to go on a really long race like that or on a long offshore passage, it's a lovely boat to sail. Also, the long keelel, it's good for beating, it just sits. It sits well in the water, doesn't slam at all. So I was I was happy with the choice yeah, I was going to ask you what did.

Capn Tinsley:

Was it hard to get used to just constantly being in motion in the in the southern ocean?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

um, not really. As long as the boat was moving I was pretty happy. Uh, the hardest part for me, as always, was being becalmed, and because we had southern limits on that race, you know a certain latitude that you weren't allowed to go south of, otherwise you get penalties. That made things difficult because it sometimes meant that you were stuck in the high pressure without wind, when you knew full well there was wind just maybe 60 or 100 miles per hour, and you couldn't go there. And that was difficult because on the southern ocean if you don't have wind, you've still got a lot of swell. Now you're trying to keep a boat moving without any wind, so the sails are slamming and the motion just isn't pleasant that wouldn't be much fun just sitting there rocking when you're not moving.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

So the first race, the winner was Robert Knox Johnson, and I'm going to list a documentary about him, and 2018 was is it Jean-Luc Van Den Heide? Mm-hmm, a 73-year-old guy? Right? And Robert Knox did it in 312 days. And Jean-Luc did it in 211 days and you did it in 233 days. What do you think? And you're the first woman we have to say that's pretty darn cool. And the first South African Yay. So what do you think?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

You're the first woman we have to say that's pretty darn cool. And the first.

Capn Tinsley:

South African Yay. So what do you think? Do you think it's the length of the boat? Like Robert Knox, he took 312 days. You guys did 211 and 233. Do you think it was the length of the boat? Because his was like 32 feet.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I think in Sir Robert Knox Johnston's case, it might have been the length of the boat, because, of course, a longer boat is faster, but he had a lot of other things that he was dealing with as well. For example, his self-steering had broken, so he did the majority of that race without self-steering, with sheet to tiller or hand steering, so that would have been a huge factor to slow him down, I would imagine. And then in the 2018 edition, they left earlier. They left in, I think, june, and they didn't have to keep the brazilian island of trinidad to port, whereas we had to, which invariably meant that you had to sail a larger distance.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

And also, in the 2018 edition, there was no restriction on how much you'd motor, so you could leave with a full tank and you could come back with an empty tank. That would be no issue. So you could cut across the St Helena High straight for Cape Town. You didn't have to do a huge curve to get past Trinidadia and then go into the Southern Ocean to catch the westerly winds, so I definitely think that would have added some extra time onto the journey. That was 2018? Yeah, so 2018,. There were no motoring restrictions.

Capn Tinsley:

In 22, you could only use 25 liters of fuel and any liter you used over 25 liters you'd get two hour penalty for oh, I thought it was just for um, to make sure your engine doesn't seize up like I didn't know that you could. You could actually use. I guess that makes sense with the 25 liters.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

It basically is just so that you can start your engine so that it doesn't seize up and okay, you know you're not going to motor through the doldrums or the Santa Nina lie with 25 liters.

Capn Tinsley:

But you could if you wanted to like, if you wanted to use it for that.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

You could, but I think you'd be inhibited because you'd think to yourself if you use up all your 25 liters and you need to charge, or something like that, because you've got no sun, so there's no, or you need to charge, or something like that, because you've got no sun, so there's, there's no or you can't charge with something breaks on your green energy. You'd be in a bit of a pickle if you'd used up your 25 liters, unless you were willing to risk the penalties.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I see, but you could use it like your shaft wasn't sealed or anything like that okay and uh.

Capn Tinsley:

Jim mccann, who has been following Salty Abandon for a long time. I followed you every day for the final two, three. What a thrilling finish. Rescue was incredible. Yeah, please talk about the rescue. We are, and are you, an Abelash? What is that?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

That's the Indian competitor, Abelash Tomi.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, finished with all of this. Those are good questions, jim, sure are so. Are you done? Are you and Abhilash, finished with all of this?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I can't speak for Abhilash, I don't know what he's doing. I think he's been mentoring other people to do similar sort of expeditions. For myself. I really miss the offshore sailing. So I could envisage myself doing another circumnav, solo and assisted on the same boat, for example, and using you know, any old school technology. But I don't know if I'd do it in the race again, because the race is expensive the entrance fees, the restrictions, southern limits, all that I've achieved, what I set out to achieve in that race. So I don't necessarily know if I'd sign up for the race again.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, would you just go through the Panama Canal? Well, you know that could also be interesting to do a bit of cruising and actually stop and meet some people and explore some cultures and do a different route. Oh, Jim wants to know if you've sold many ha-ha. I haven't, no.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I still have her. I'm kind of holding on to her, even though I've got debt on her, but I just haven't. It's really silly, I'm just being sentimental, but I've not been able to let her go yet.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, I understand, I don't think you should. I know you mentioned in the video with you know sailing magic carpet that you were going to get it ready and fix everything and then maybe sell it. But I don't know.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I mean, you and that boat went through a lot together, yeah we did, and I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into fixing her and she's now the way I'd like her to be. I guess that's just letting go of the memory of everything, of that whole adventure that was, you know, so life enriching. When I'm on the boat I can see little things in every corner of the boat, and to sailor would be a hard thing to do, but maybe at some point.

Capn Tinsley:

I'll have to just use it. I think you should just add some solar panels and all the modern technology and go on about the world. Yeah, go on about the world. Yeah, go on about the world. So I do have a very, very important question for you. Did you learn anything about packing the proper amount of coffee? Yeah, I was devastated when you said you ran out of coffee.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, I mean it's crazy. The very diluted coffee I was drinking got me all the way back up to the azores, but I sure missed a good, strong cup of coffee.

Capn Tinsley:

So yeah, that that will be on my list of priorities when it comes to victorling and provisioning next time yeah, because I mean, if you're by yourself and you're going through all the you know, sometimes you're rocking and sometimes you're in the doldrums at least least you can. If you've got coffee, you can just put up with just about anything.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah it's true, and so I got a real kick out of caffeine when I got back after you know long deprivation.

Capn Tinsley:

So what was I going to ask you? Um, so, uh, what was I gonna ask you? Um, okay, you know, you remember tanya. I forgot her last name. She went around the world when she was 18 in the 80s, you remember. Okay, I can't remember last name, but one of. I read her book years ago and one of the things she said is when I've got it written down, because I've never experienced this, I want to know if you experienced it.

Capn Tinsley:

The way Tanya describes being present in each moment, whether making soup, brushing her hair or handling the boat, speaks to the profound connection solo sailors often develop with themselves and their surroundings. It's not just getting from point A to point B, it's about fully experiencing each moment along the way. It's a reminder of how the solitude of the sea can strip away distractions and bring a deep awareness to the simplest acts. I'm a solo sailor, but nothing like that length of time. But can you speak to that? What was that like? Even though it was a race, I don't know if it was hard to forget that you were on a race.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, I mean that definitely makes sense to me especially is being disconnected from a whole lot of other abstract things around you, like smartphones and whatever communication that you're constantly looking at, and just being fully in the moment. I mean, on a race, I guess you're not, and I guess even on a passage, you're also projecting forwards to when you arrive or, you know, getting to the end of the race, but you're always reminded that you are have to be in the moment and that is right.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, I think that you said um somewhere in the atlantic that you you finally stopped thinking about where everybody else was in the race is that right, it was. It was in the Atlantic or was it in the Southern Ocean? It was, it was quite.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

It wasn't too long after the start. I didn't have a very good start because I went too close to the Spanish shoreline and I got becalmed. And it was incredibly frustrating because at that time the fleet was still quite close together so you could hear people like competitors talking to each other and exchanging positions. So I knew that I was behind. I wasn't at the end of the fleet and it was. It was really frustrating. And then it came to the point when it's like I don't want to listen to the skids anymore, I don't want to listen to the radio conversations, I don't want to care about where the other people are, I want to race my own race. And when I took that decision I really started to enjoy myself.

Capn Tinsley:

That's a great lesson for life Quit comparing yourself to everybody else, right.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, I mean, I guess it's true. We all need to race our own race to a lesser or larger degree.

Capn Tinsley:

And I know you were disappointed about your friend I can't remember his name that he ran aground.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, guy Deboer. Yeah, that was pretty sad.

Capn Tinsley:

Right, yeah, and you, you were, you know, in all the checkpoints. What do you call them? Gates? I think you were. You looked the most bothered in that first one, Cause I, and I guess it was the reason- what you just said.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, exactly, you didn't feel like chatting, yeah, and it was also, you know, it was only I don't know how many days was into the race, maybe two weeks max, um, and you don't feel like this arbitrary thing. You have to go now to this island in the middle of the night and sail around this buoy. It's really arbitrary. It's like come on, this is ridiculous. You wanted to get on with it, yeah, yeah, especially because I was in a rush to get to the head of the fleet and because I'd had that bad start. So, yeah, I wasn't in the best of mood at that checkpoint.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, you weren't rude, you just were like I'm ready to get going. So I want up that picture of I think I have it here of um, where is it? It's, it's the. I wanted to show the the route. I don't know if I can find it, oh goodness. Um, well, anyway, I'll find it in just a minute. But uh, it's. It shows the route from, from france down, and then you hang a left and go under Africa, and then there's another checkpoint there, just off.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Cape Town.

Capn Tinsley:

And so I do have a question about. These are not in any particular order, so I'm just kind of winging it here. So your own waters in south africa did that prepare you for? Uh, I don't know how far down oh, I didn't mean to put that up there.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Um, how far down you've sailed before, if you ever went to the Southern Ocean, yeah, I had sailed in the Southern Ocean quite a bit and I'd approached Cape Town on a couple of occasions from the Southern Ocean. So for me I did go quite far south because I know that at that time of year you get very strong southeasterlies in Cape Town and that area and they can push you far up north. So your approach angle is best if you're approaching from the southwest, and that's kind of what I went for.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, so you had some experience with it.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, yeah, fortunately. So on my way down and passing Cape Town, I was still feeling very confident. It still felt like my turf.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, because I would not know what to do, because I've sailed in the Gulf and in the Gulf Stream, so I'm going to see if I can find that picture. Okay, it's a real good picture, so it'll be worth it. Okay, it's a real good picture, so it'll be worth it. Okay, here we go, here we go. Alright, now that's behind it. Overlay, I hate dead air. There we go, there we go. Okay, there we go, okay. So you, you started, you started up here At Les Sables, yep, and then you stopped at the gate.

Capn Tinsley:

There at Canary Islands. And then there was a Cape Town photo gate, yep, and basically you're just stopping in there for them to pull up to you and talk to you. I'm not sure who the fellow was that was talking to you.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Probably Don McIntyre, who's the race organizer.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

So, yeah, you had a certain place that you had to go to, which was outside of a port, and you might have to sail around a buoy or something just to say that you've gone around it. And then you were obliged to drop sail or, you know, drop your headsails and reef your mainsail down and then drift for I don't know 30 or 40 minutes. And then that time they did an interview with you and they called it the photo gate, because you were supposed to hand over film and photo footage, because it was one way to theorize it and then after that you carry on sailing.

Capn Tinsley:

Did you really hand over footage and everything?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

yeah, I did, and because you had to hand over a minimum amount of minutes I can't remember how per gate. So I know it's kind of silly, because one thing is I'm filming something and I'm saying I don't really know what to film here or what to say, but I'm trying to fill up the minutes.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, you did good. It was very interesting. I mean I'm sure it was, just I don't know how much footage you would have had on that trip. Yeah, I mean I'm sure it was, just I don't know how much footage you would have had on that trip, was it?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, I mean I was a little bit lazy. I was kind of doing the minimum of what I needed to for, um, you know, to tick the box. But in retrospect I'm really glad that they made this rule, otherwise I would have been even lazier about taking footage. I would just have, you know, wanted to sail and not have to deal with a gopro or anything like that.

Capn Tinsley:

so it was. It was a good rule. That's good. Now you've got it forever. Yeah, um, I saw that how you um you checked everything every day, like you had your routine climbing up the mask, going and checking out like I need to do that more. I get lazy with that. I just don't even see it anymore and I was like, oh, I need to be doing what she's doing, looking for chafing and everything yeah, I mean the mast and the hull.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I'd only do on calm days, calmer days. I choose my moments, uh, but I would generally, I would walk every morning and check especially areas where I knew they were problem areas, like if I knew there was a certain place where bolts were getting loose over time or whatever. Those were the places I'd always go to and check. And I think for me that was, I think for anyone on such a long race, it's really important to prevent something before it actually breaks.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, and you had you had to fix something on your wind vane, yeah.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I got hit by quite a big, powerful wave about 900 miles before Cape Horn and that did a little bit of damage, so it turned the rudder out of alignment, which I think was a blessing in disguise, because the rudder wasn't singing tight on its rod, so it actually managed to swivel without breaking. If it had been much tighter, something else would have broken. So I could fix that. And there was another little part that had fallen out which I could then zip tie back in again. But I noticed only when I got back to Le Sable de Lannes at the end, when I took the hydrovane rudder off, that shaft was bent. So it was a very powerful wave.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh wow, so have you used a wind vane before? Were you pretty familiar with that?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I'd used a wind vane on one trip before sailing from Portugal down to South Africa. But it it was a different type of wind van. It was an Aries where it steers with the boat's rudder, whereas the hydro van has its own auxiliary rudder and that's what it steers the boat with. So in the beginning I was a bit skeptical about how good a course it would hold, but with a long keel boat it was fantastic.

Capn Tinsley:

So do you like that? I don't have one, but I've thought about getting one just in case that ever. You know, in case my autopilot goes out.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I like it a lot for various reasons. One is you need to balance your sails properly, whereas with an autopilot you can press plus or minus or turn your dial or whatever it is you have to do, and it will still hold the course usually. But with a wind vane you need to balance things out properly, otherwise it sails a larger S course or it goes off course or whatever. So it actually makes you be a little bit more precise on the sail trim and it's quiet you don't hear a motor or anything like that turning as you do with an electronic autopilot. And it's quiet you don't hear a motor or anything like that turning as you do with an electronic autopilot and it doesn't draw on your batteries. So it's pretty nice.

Capn Tinsley:

So that was definitely in 1968. Technology how long have those been around?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I think they started developing wind vans before 1968. But of course they've become more precision, like fine over the time, so I'm sure the modern ones you get nowadays probably work a little bit better than the ones back in 1968.

Capn Tinsley:

Wow, um, okay. So what did you learn about yourself on this solo journey? Probably a lot of stuff, yeah, yeah quite a lot.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I mean, I guess one of the things I learned is that I could do a solitary stint like that. The solitude for me wasn't the most difficult factor and I kind of suspected that beforehand because I'd done you know a couple of solo sailing things before that and I'd done you know a couple of solo sailing things before that and I'd done the two long delivery trips on my boat before the race, so that wasn't something that was worrying me. But I didn't know how, you know how eight months would affect me and it was actually okay.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I learned that I talk a lot to myself or to things, inanimate things, the wind, my boat, it's you know, it's quite interesting because I was speaking to someone who does those Vipassana retreats, where you go away for 10 days with other people but you don't talk. I don't even think you make eye contact. So it's not only the thing of not communicating with someone else, it's the thing of actually not being vocal, and I definitely never did 10 days without being vocal. I was very vocal. I mean I could say whatever I wanted to when I wanted to, because there was no one yet there to hear it nobody to offend exactly exactly myself if I was talking to myself.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

But the talking to yourself thing is kind of cool because I could actively stop, like break the pattern of negative thoughts. So that for me was quite a big lesson, because when things aren't going your way whether it's on a solo race or in life in general or whatever you can get quite down about it and you can start thinking negative thoughts. Like when I was stuck in the doldrums for two weeks, I was thinking to myself this could take three months to get out of here and I'm going to run out of water and food and this and that and there's no way I can win anymore. So it was just negative thinking and it wasn't getting me anywhere. So I could actively say to myself stop it, stop this negative thinking right away, just like break it immediately before you, like making a pathway for that kind of thought, because it's something that's not going to get you anywhere. So that was kind of a nice skill because I think one can use it probably in most situations in life I bet you've done a ted talk, haven't you?

Capn Tinsley:

uh, no, not really. No, this is great ted talk, tech talk, stuff here. I bet you end up doing that. Um, so you know how? Uh, montessori, is that how you say his name? Yeah, yeah, how he decided to keep going. Did you ever think about doing that?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

well, I read his book before the race and during the race and every time he gets to that point where he makes the decision to keep going, I always thought to myself what was going through his head. So when I passed Cape Horn I just hypothetically imagined myself now taking the same decision and at that point I wanted to keep going because at that point I knew I was in the lead. So obviously you want to get back because there's a chance of winning. But I did. When I got stuck in the doldrums and I thought I might not have a chance of winning anymore, I didn't really feel like arriving in Les Sables de Lannes anymore, like I thought it would be kind of nice to just sail over the finish line, but then not going to Port Swinger left and go to the Azores and get off the boat, where no one knows who you are, and go and drink a cup of coffee and just be left alone Coffee.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, yeah, I've heard that from others that it's just really hard to go back to the.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I mean all those people coming at you, yeah, I mean, on the one hand, it was hard, but on the other hand, it was incredibly encouraging. There were all sorts of people, um, people I didn't know, people I did know family, friends, and there was just. I mean, it was such a grand moment in my life that I was filled with joy and you looked happy. Yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

I was.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

you know, after eight months, if you arrive to such a festive atmosphere, of course you're happy and you're happy to see people again. Yeah, and that kind of stayed. I mean even that people now, you know, more than a year later, are still interested in my story. It's quite encouraging, like it's. I guess it's encouraging in the sense that I can share something, because I had this incredible joy and privilege to live something so amazing and it is nice to be able to share it to some other degree with people who are interested.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, you mentioned that you didn't realize how much it impacted everybody. Yeah, exactly.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I had no idea that. You know, there were people all over the world following along and you know I read the comments afterwards in the social media or emails that people had sent me and I couldn't, unfortunately, answer to them all. But the fact that people were writing to me while I was on the race and they knew I couldn't read the comment, but they just wanted to say, hey, we're behind you and we're cheering you on, that's huge.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, since I said I was going to be interviewing you, a lot of people have said, oh my gosh, I followed her all along. I mean, there's like this Jim McCann. He said he's he was following you, and a lot of other people.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

They've just been following the whole thing.

Capn Tinsley:

You didn't even know who these people were.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

You're out there talking to yourself and you didn't. And yet, vicariously, they were, to some or other degree, living the adventure with me. So that's pretty cool, right, well, all these people I'm talking about are sailors.

Capn Tinsley:

They haven't done what you've done, but some of them have circumnavigated. But it is pretty incredible and you had done some tell about the bike trip from Europe to South Africa. That's pretty amazing.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, that was also a very life-enriching experience. Basically, I was pretty young, I was 22. I wanted to cycle from north to south through Africa because it's kind of like felt like it's my continent and I don't know it well and I want to explore it. And of course, people said you're going to get yourself killed trying to do that, that's a dangerous thing to undertake. And I set off anyway and I mean it was a very different experience. I was cycling on my own but of course I was meeting people. So it was a very interesting cultural experience and you know some places you were meeting the poorest of the poor people, but they were happy that you were there. They were treating you like a guest of honor. They were willing to share whatever they had to eat or, you know, whatever roof they could offer. Oh, my god, they could offer you. So, on a on a human level, it was a very, very deep experience that now.

Capn Tinsley:

Didn't you start in Europe?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I did. Yeah, I started in Europe and I ended back home in South Africa.

Capn Tinsley:

All the way to the bottom.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

That's amazing.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

With a few detours, you know, trying to find safe ways around potentially politically unstable countries or whatever.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, how long did it take? It took me a year.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

And it wasn't to break a record or to race or anything, it was just to go out there and do my my little pilgrimage back home. Did you set a record? Um, I don't think so. I mean, I assume maybe no one had cycled the exact route that I'd cycled before, but I but I'm not aware of having set any records. I might have been the first woman to cycle through Africa, I don't know because I did it really on my own steam back then.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I had no sponsorship, I had no support, I didn't even have a phone with me, so no one knew I was doing it and I guess some eyebrows were raised when I was arriving back in, you know, southern Africa, like Namibia and South Africa. But up until that point it was really just my family and my friends who knew that I was underway.

Capn Tinsley:

And your parents? Are they just scared to death? My mother was scared to death.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

My mother was convinced she'd never see me again.

Capn Tinsley:

So I think for her it was Actually no. For the race.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

She was really cool. I told her that I, you know, wanted to sign up for the Golden Race. She's like, yeah, sure do. It Sounds like just your kind of thing. I think the Africa trip had primed her for anything else that was going to come after that.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh my gosh, I bet she's very proud yeah she was a really good support. She helped me in any way she could. So you were out there and I remember you said at first you were kind of checking your location with the VHF, with some ships and everything, and then after that you felt like I got this. Did you ever wonder?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

like do I really know where I am? Initially it was exactly like that for me, although I'd had the opportunity to practice sailing from Canada down to South Africa and South Africa back up to France. But I'd had the GPS on the parallel so every time I did my celestial navigation I could check how far was I off the GPS position. But then for the race, it was the first time that I was really switching it off altogether. So the first ships that I saw, I was asking them for their position and of course you know if they're visible they're probably a couple of miles away. So that was good enough. And then I did come to a point where it's like nah, I know where I am, it's okay.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

It would have been different if there'd been fog or poor visibility or any other reason why I might not have been able to get a good sight. But I got so into the routine of it that I remember like having a random conversation with some cargo ship in the southern atlantic and the ship called me saying are you okay, because I haven't seen a sailboat this far south in a long time. And then I. Then we got talking and I told the person about the race and about the retro aspect of it. And he said to me oh really, he said, um, would you like my position, because then you can verify yours, and I'm like no, I'm all right, thanks.

Capn Tinsley:

I know where I am, I'm good. Oh, I bet he remembers that conversation. Let's see what else was I going to ask? Oh, let's talk about the rescue Now. When you were describing that 24 hours you were behind the wheel. I was like I felt stressed for you, so just go ahead, tell us a little bit about.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

It was stressful because I did want to get to him, but it was also some really good sailing like I was almost feeling guilty sailing towards him because intermittently I didn't have wind, but then when the wind came through it was good wind and it was on a good angle for Minnehaha to sail really fast. I was actually really enjoying that night of just helming and then there was this beautiful sunrise in the morning and I was thinking this is not good because I'm actually enjoying myself.

Capn Tinsley:

How many knots were you going? How?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

many knots were you going? I think she was doing probably on seven and a half to eight and a half knots, if not touching on the nines at times.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

So I got to her much quicker than my ETA initially said I was going to. They said to me do you think your ETA is going to be? And I got there quite a number of hours quicker. So she was sailing well. Of course she was sailing better because I was helming her, and if it hadn't been for the fact that it was a rescue, if I was just sailing in the race.

Capn Tinsley:

I would have let the wind vane do its thing, and you were, did you, were you running the engine At that point, you were allowed to right.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, exactly. So initially, when I fired up the engine, because at that point in time I had no wind, but then, of course, the moment the wind came through, I switched the engine off and then it was a low-pressure system that had moved over. So there was a brief lull where there wasn't any wind, between the northwest and the southwest, and in that lull I switched the engine on again.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, so you still had to conserve your number of liters, right.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

No, there was no. I mean, they were checking what I was doing and they were also checking the weather. So I couldn't have said to them well, I had to motor for 24 hours because there was no wind. They would have known that that's nonsense. But they asked me at the end of the rescue. They said how many liters of fuel do you think you've used? Because I don't have fuel gauges so I couldn't give an exact answer on that. But they said just guess. And I know I knew my engine pretty well so I knew how much I was consuming on those amount of revs that I was using. So I gave them my guesstimate of consumption and they said that sounds about right.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

So they gave me an extra fuel allowance for that okay, yeah, so you weren't any risk of running out like where you would need it later on or no because how they had done it is, when you left le sable de l'on, all the competitors had to leave with full fuel tanks filled to capacity for emergencies, and then what they did is, when you arrived at the end, they made you fill it up to capacity again, and then that's how they saw how many meters to use.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, I got you. Okay, so tell the name of the fella whose boat sank. What was his name? Tapio, tapio, yeah, and he's sitting in the Southern Ocean in his I do have a picture of that Poor guy. But he was in a good mood about it, he was.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

He was Life lesson in positivity, that's for sure.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, he had big smiles on his face, so I guess this was taken by the tanker.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, that would have been one of the crew taking photos of us before he'd disembarked Minnehaha to transfer over so you guys were just kind of towing the life raft and you guys were toasting his survival. Yes, exactly, we were toasting that. He was good and well, I think he might have come down below and had a brief tour of Minnehaha, and then we were just sitting there chatting.

Capn Tinsley:

And have you talked to him since then?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I have, I've been in contact with him a few times. He actually invited me to Finland after the race, which I took him up on that offer. So I saw him in Finland and then I saw him again in Cape Town because he was in the Ocean Globe race and they had a stop in Cape Town.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, and that was pretty sad, that he lost his whole. I mean, he lost everything.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Exactly. That is really sad and that's why I say it was a life lesson in positivity, because he was incredibly positive. He was just happy rather than, you know, moping about the fact that he lost his whole boat and everything on boarded.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, that I mean it could have been over for him.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

So did he ever find out what it was. No, I mean, there's speculation on what it might've been. It could have been a leaking through hull that eventually, you know know, caused a bulkhead to break and then the flood wave hit him. Or the thing is, he said the the water was coming in from the stern, so it seems unlikely that he hit something, because he'd hit something on the bow or on the side rather than on the stern. Um, or, you know, his boat was pretty light and pretty heavily loaded and he was sailing hard because he was doing well at that time. So maybe the rig was handling it, but maybe it sprang a crack in the hull. But it will always, ever, only be speculation.

Capn Tinsley:

It came in through the engine, through the….

Kirsten Neuschafer:

The stern gland or something. Yeah, who really?

Capn Tinsley:

knows Ooh, that's rough, yeah, it is, or something. Yeah, he really knows, whoo, that's rough. Um, so okay, was there a particular moment of unexpected beauty or inspiration that stood out to you during your solo journey? I? Mean you've asked that before, but there were many.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

This is the thing. There were many moments when I was really in my element, when I was really really happy, when it felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be. But a few of them whales of Cape Town, because it was the season when the humpbacks passed that coastline and they were just on. I arrived on the still moonlit night with humpbacks all around me, so that was pretty spectacular and they were, you know, surfacing right next to the boat. Another really cool moment was waking up at two in the morning, going outside to check that everything was okay, and then seeing lights on the southern horizon, sort of white light, and staring at it, thinking what is that and realizing the lights moving and what it was was the aurora. So that was pretty special. It was just south of tasmania, where I'm like wow, I've never seen the aurora out at sea and in the southern hemisphere.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Um, and then I had some moments stars, but the stars were, the some starry nights were just wow, amazing, you know um shooting stars or whatever the case may be. And then there were some really good moments of sailing in the Southern Ocean, where, you know, minnehaha was getting the speed records and she was surfing so fast down waves that she was shooting a rooster tail off her stern. And that was just like I can't believe this 36 foot, 13 ton boat is doing these kinds of speeds you know where. That was just exhilarating.

Capn Tinsley:

Sounds like a fabulous trip it was. And I want to see you come through the Gulf and everything I don't know. If you know where I am, I'm on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Do you know where the Gulf of Mexico is?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I've got a sort of an idea of it. I've never been there, so it sounds like a place I should check out someday.

Capn Tinsley:

It's wonderful. I'm really sad that the West Coast of Florida is getting hit right now by a hurricane, a four, a category four, and that's where I like to go the West Coast of Florida, the Keys. I hope you're over this way. I mean, this is definitely worth seeing. You got to see the Caribbean right, sounds very cool. Yeah, yeah, and I do have some good interviews of people talking about you know good routes from Florida to the Caribbean, into the Bahamas and everything Okay. Can you describe a particular challenging or pivotal moment during the race where you had to adapt quickly without modern tools or assistance?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I guess one really pivotal moment was when I got hit by that big wave that damaged the hydrovan because it had turned the rudder out of alignment. It was forcing the boat to windward, so the the boat was taking the waves broadside on and of course these things always happen at night. So you're hanging over the stern at night with huge waves crashing broadside over the boat, thinking to yourself what is going on, you know, with maybe just a little headlamp, and then realizing what it is and realizing that you're going to have to grab a couple of um wrenches and realign the rudder. That was a moment where I had to react really quickly. So first hand, get the boat back downwind so that we weren't taking the waves at such a dangerous angle, and then intimate hand steer while you're trying to work on the problem.

Capn Tinsley:

Right, right, and I noticed that you didn't really strap yourself in.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, like in a moment like that I did. I did, you know, strap myself in. People are always on me for that.

Capn Tinsley:

I don't always want to sit there all strapped in and everything, or even have a life jacket, a life vest on. I never saw one on you.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

Yeah, I mean it's a bad thing to say and I know a lot of people criticize me about it, but I mean I can count on one hand how often I put my harness on and tether I get it those were stormy moments yeah, I'm sure your mom would have liked to see that on you, though I hope she's not watching piece of advice you wish.

Capn Tinsley:

I hope she's not watching Piece of advice you wish you could have given yourself before starting the race.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

On a very technical sort of note, I would have had my main sail cut in such a way that when I reef it it forces the boom up, because when you reef down to third, or if you even got a fourth reef, you don't want your boom anywhere near the water anymore because you don't want it touching. So that was the thing that kind of irritated me, because I was always worried that the boom was going to touch. So that's like a really, really technical thing. Then the least technical thing is I'd advise anyone if you like coffee, make sure that you've taken a nap.

Capn Tinsley:

That's more important than the sale. Yeah, with anything with that, yeah yeah, exactly so.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

And then I guess, on a more sort of a philosophical level, I would have advised myself right from the start is just to race my own race. Well, you did, I did, yeah, I did. I realized it early enough into the race, I guess. And then I guess I did tell myself this quite often enjoy it, because before you know it it's going to be over. Even though it seems like such a long trip, it passes in the blink of an eye and you can never go back to your time, so you've just got to embrace every moment of it.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, and so you? I mean, you couldn't even watch a YouTube video to distract yourself, could you yeah?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

which I kind of miss not having that distraction. On the other hand, I could read books, which I don't do that much when I'm on land because I'm always in a rush, and then when I do have a spare moment, then I'm answering emails or something like that, right, so you did read some books.

Capn Tinsley:

What did you read?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

The type of book I really enjoyed on that race was historical novels, or, you know, novels based in a historical setting, because you're learning something about an historical era, but without it being written history book style. So it's still a novel with characters and you can still escape into the mind historical fiction, yeah, yeah, like based on reality, based on some sort of.

Capn Tinsley:

I like to read those kind of things, especially if I'm visiting somewhere, like to be at about that place, wherever I am, exactly, yeah, what did you read? Did you read about, like, robinson Crusoe or something I did read?

Kirsten Neuschafer:

a few books like that, but I guess I've taken some of the books I knew I'd enjoy. So there's a South African author who writes historical fiction or actual novels, sometimes with people that might that probably did exist, and she writes about the bush, the deep South African, afro-montane bush. And it was quite nice because you're stuck on the middle of the ocean, there are no plants around you, there are no trees or anything like that, and suddenly she's describing this bush and all its detail, down to what it smells like. So I quite enjoyed that because I know the area. It's just something you can escape away to when you have to.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, it's so cool I don't know if I'd be brave enough to go out on. I mean, I am out of the box. I'm out of the box girl too, just like you. But the Southern Ocean, that just sounds a little scary.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

You know, you just get closer to it and closer to it and eventually you'd be in it, and then you'd probably realize it's okay, I'll just keep going.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

All right to it, and eventually you'd be in it and then you'd probably realize it's okay, I'll just keep going. All right, let's see what else have we not covered? Have you met robert knox johnston? He's still alive. Right he is. Yeah, I met him before the race because he was there at in les sables de l'on and we had supper with him and all the other skippers and the mayor of Les Sables du Lannes and all the VIPs and I got to sit across from him and we were eating outside and there was a bit of wind and he spoke very softly so I couldn't hear everything he was saying, which I was really quite disappointed about. But then I met him again after the race. Pretty cool that such an iconic person was there.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, absolutely, and just so, I um, I mentioned I was going to bring these up here, um, so here are. Let me take this one off so from the. If you want to watch three good documentaries about the 1960s they called it the sunday Times race or something, because the Sunday Times in London, I guess. 1968, the Deep Water, that's 2006 about Donald Crowhurst, that whole story. That was the first one I ever watched years ago. And then the shocking true story of Bernard Say the name, what's his name? I haven't seen that one. I'm curious now as well. You haven't seen that one. I haven now as well. You haven't seen that one. I haven't. No, that's a good one. And then Sir Robin Knox, johnston Sailing Legend. That's a good. That covers a good amount of information there. And then, if you want to watch the one about Kirsten I meant to run this the whole time Kirsten Neuschafer, the Golden Glove Story, and that is on YouTube. It's Sailing Magic Carpet. How did you hook up with her? That was really well done. Yeah, she's fantastic.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

She and her partner are actually rebuilding a Cape George 36. So somehow she heard about me or I heard about her. I can't remember which way it went, but it was quite funny because I was in Prince Edward Island refitting the boat and they were in Port Townsend, I think. So we were on opposite sides of the continent and we got talking and yeah, and that was pretty cool.

Capn Tinsley:

The Cape George was the connection. She, she had the uh, she was able to take the footage from the, from your footage, and then put it together like that. Is that how that worked? Is that is um, is that, or did somebody else put it all together? She, she did everything so pretty impressive.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

She did a really good job. So that footage was footage that the race had already put out on the internet for every competitor that put out a certain amount of footage. So she took all the footage that was already out there and she turned it into that story. So she did a fantastic job.

Capn Tinsley:

It really it was a great kind of overall uh story of how it all of, of your, of your whole experience. So again, if, if anybody wants to get caught up on that, it's a kirsten noice, noice shafer, the golden globe story. Uh, youtube at sailing magic carpet. It's definitely worth a watch, and these other ones too. So is this the only one that you haven't seen is, uh, shocking true story I'm really curious now, so I've got to yeah, it's, it's a little bit.

Capn Tinsley:

It's a little bit, uh like he had a wife and, I think, a family that he just said see you later yeah and I knew that he had a wife and a family because, um, he wrote.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

I think he wrote four books. I haven't read his last book, but I read the first three, the third one being about the race, and then the first and the second one. But the second one describes how he sails with his wife all over to Polynesia and then they sail around Cape Horn because she's eager to get back to her kids in France.

Capn Tinsley:

So um, yeah, well, I think they broke up over that. I don't think he ever went back like he stopped in Tahiti was it Tahiti exactly? And he didn't go back and he met somebody else and had a kid because the kids, because the kids, her kids he had actually adopted.

Kirsten Neuschafer:

They weren't his biological kids.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, I guess it could really mess with your mind when you're out there at sea, like that that's what some people say is that he lost it.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, and look at you, you're so well adjusted. All right, let's see. Let me see if I have anything else in here in this disorganized list here. Minimal technology. We did that. I think we did everything. I think we hit the highlights.

Capn Tinsley:

So your next adventure is it going to be around the world with technology? Are you there? Uh-oh, I think I lost her. Aw, I think I lost her. Oh, okay, well, I guess that we will end it there. That's a shame, kirsten, if you're watching this later. It was such a pleasure. This was fabulous. Maybe you can hear me and I just can't. Maybe you just don't have the camera there, but anyway, I just want to say thank you. This was an honor and I hope we can talk again, and I hope that, yep, she's off there now. I hope that we can talk again and I would love to talk to you About your next adventure and I hope it's going to be over here Going through the Panama Canal, and I hope it's going to be over here and going through the Panama Canal. Anyway, I hope everybody enjoyed that. I sure did. And how do I usually go out? Let me get my, okay, here we go, salty Abandoned out. Thank you.

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