No one even knew if a boat could survive 30,000 miles straight at sea, or what might happen to the mind of a sailor alone for so long.

The original race was run in 1968 when nine men vied to be the first to sail solo, without stopping, around the world. Competitors sail small boats, navigate with paper charts and sextant, catch rain for water, hand-write their logs, communicate by radio, and cannot accept outside assistance. Where modern circumnavigation races like the Vendee Globe, BOC Challenge, and Whitbread Round-the World involve expensive, high-tech boats that race at high speeds and can evoke an elitist image of sail racing, the Golden Globe has only been held three times, and hearkens back to a simpler era. When she finally crossed the finish in the full dark of night, she became the first South African to win a round-the-world sailing event, and the first woman to win a circumnavigation race via the three great capes, crewed or solo.Īnd the Golden Globe is no average sailing race. The leisurely pace of the fleet belied the magnitude of the feat Neuschäfer had just accomplished. She hadn’t stepped off her sailboat in 235 days. Their occupants were the first people she’d seen in months. An entourage of rubber Zodiacs, motorized crafts, and other sailboats surrounded her as a welcome into the Les Sable d’Olonne harbor. South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer, 40, stood alone at the helm of Minnehaha, whose once-white hull had gone dingy with algae.

On the evening of April 27, as the sky darkened over the Atlantic coast of France, a 36-foot sailboat drifted slowly on a windless sea.

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