The Golden Globe Race remains an extraordinary race. Its format, sailing the old fashioned way, aims to put the sailors in conditions similar to the 1967-68 edition. For this second edition, they were 16 competitors to take the start on long keel yachts under 40 feet.
Only 4 competitors left out of the 16 at the start
But this non-stop single-handed round-the-world race without assistance, which starts and finishes in Les Sables-d'Olonne, is putting the sailors and the boats to the test. After more than 160 days of racing, there are only 4 solo sailors left in the race!
Always well placed in the leading pack, Kirsten Neuschäfer, the 40 year old South African, has just rounded Cape Horn. And for the first time in a round the world sailing race, it is a woman who is leading.
A woman in the lead
Today, this woman is 300 miles ahead of the second place, the Indian Abhilash Tomy. This sailor had given up on the previous edition on board his replica of Suhaili the sailboat that won the 1968 edition.
If she maintains her pace, Kirsten Neuschäfer could arrive in Les Sables-d'Olonne mid-April 2023, after more than 7 months at sea. If she succeeds in this feat, she will be welcomed as a hero, as the people of Sables d'Olonne know how to do for all sailors returning from a round-the-world voyage.
