Team Manager, Kirsten Neuschäfer, Golden Globe Race

It was an honour in 2022 to assist Kirsten Neushchafer in her preparations to sail around the world in the Golden Globe Race.

The race is solo, non-stop, unassisted and in the spirit of the technology and resources available in 1968.

It’s a race that has fascinated me since I first read about it in 2016. When I met my colleague, Kirsten, I unknowingly planted the seed that lead her to signing up for the race!

T.S Royalist & T.S Royalist

One of my all time favourite vessels has to be the Sea Cadets square rigged tall ship 'T.S Royalist'. I sailed with her often as a teenager and later worked on board as an instructor in many roles. The original T.S Royalist was decomissioned in 2014 and I was fortunate to be part of the team who rigged the replacement, also called 'T.S Royalist'. My best time with 'the Royalists' has to be taking part in Tall Ships Races, but especially the 2017 edition where we sailed the new ship to 1st place overall.

Pelagic Expeditions - Pelagic Australis

Operating Skip Novak's famous expedition vessel in the Southern Ocean is probably the most adventurous sailing I'll ever do. Edd and I were skipper and 1st mate for a while. We sailed to some enchanting and brutal places with that boat!

SY Mipha

Mipha' is the Van de Stadt 42 that I live aboard with Edd and our fearless sea-dog Penny. Mipha is our adventure machine and we are very proud to own her. Penny is a very happy and content boat dog. She likes to stand on the coach roof and sniff the wind whilst we are sailing. She's clipped on and wearing a life jacket of course!

The open ocean! As much as I love remote islands and new places, I'm truly happiest when I can't see land at all. I get a real sense of peace and find that the clock slows down in such a good way. For me, there's nothing better than getting into the routine of an ocean crossing . The furthest voyage I've ever done was from the UK to the Falkland Islands. That's 8000 miles! Edd and I navigated the whole way without GPS.

I often imagine what it would be like to sail around the world non-stop. I'm fascinated by the likes of the Vendee and the Golden Globe races.

It's so difficult! Every voyage seems to have its own identifying moment but there's nothing like a landfall after a few weeks at sea. On one trip I had been teaching celestial navigation and we were sailing from the Falkland Islands to Cape Town via Tristan da Cunha without GPS. Tristan da Cunha is the worlds most remote island. It's only 11km in diameter and it's about half way between South America and South Africa. Finding it is like finding a needle in a haystack but when my students saw its dark sillouhette against the really dark night whilst reefing in about 40 knots of wind - It was a very exciting time indeed and I was so happy to share it with them.