She’s the last woman sailing.
South Africa’s Kirsten Neuschäfer is leaving fellow skippers in her wake as she vies to become the first woman to win the Golden Globe Race — a solo, nonstop voyage around the world.
Neuschäfer and 15 other mariners set sail in early September from Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, embarking on a perilous 30,000-nautical mile odyssey set to last more than seven months. The invitation-only “retro” race also calls for adventurers to leave modern technology, including GPS, at the dock in a nod to the original 1968 competition.
Just four of 16 sailors who started the solo circumnavigation remained in the race Monday, its official live tracker shows — with Neuschäfer, the lone female contestant, leading the dwindling fleet as she neared Cape Horn in her 36-foot-long Minnehaha.
At her current pace along the tip of South America en route back to France, Neuschäfer is projected to finish on April 18, some 226 days after she shoved off, and four days ahead of her nearest competitor.
The lifelong sailor from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, would also become the first woman to win the race that was rebooted in 2018 to mark the 50th anniversary of the original competition.
Neuschäfer, 40, took the lead earlier this month when Simon Curwen, 62, encountered damage to self-steering gear, forcing him abandon the race and head for the coast of South America. Curwen’s lead once appeared “insurmountable,” Sail Magazine reported.
Isabelle Autissier, 66, a French woman who became the first female to compete in an unassisted sailing race around the world, had a five-day lead in the 1994-95 BOC Challenge, but had to retire due to rudder issues, the outlet reported.
Neuschäfer, meanwhile, isn’t motivated by the trophy or £5,000 prize ($6,069 USD) she’ll take home if she gets back to France before her three remaining opponents.
“The single-handed aspect was the one that drew me,” Neuschäfer told NPR via satellite phone. “I really like the aspect of sailing by celestial navigation, sailing old school.”
The sailing vet, who previously skippered charters off the coasts of Patagonia, Antarctica and the Falkland Islands, is no stranger to Cape Horn, but acknowledged her increased “anxiety” with limited weather information and spotty conditions.
“It’s almost like … trying to reach the peak of Everest,” Neuschäfer told NPR.
Race officials praised Neuschäfer in November for rescuing another sailor, Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen, from a life raft in the southern Indian Ocean, where his yacht, Asteria, had sunk nearly 24 hours earlier.
Neuschäfer, who was 105 nautical miles away from Lehtinen, broke the seal of her emergency GPS unit and diverted course toward Tapio, whom she later rescued with a retrieving line and transferred to an awaiting freighter.
“I’m full of adrenaline now, I’ve been up helming all night,” Neuschäfer told race officials. “He was onboard, we drank a rum together and then we sent him on his merry way.”
To pass the calmer moments, she’s currently reading “The Bookseller of Kabul” by author Asne Seierstad and listening to cassette tapes since computers aren’t allowed, NPR reported.
Neuschäfer is also reportedly dealing with equipment issues of her own, including a broken spinnaker pole, which controls headsails. But she’s already looking forward to ordinary indulgences once back on dry land.
“I’ll get off and enjoy feeling the land beneath my feet,” she told NPR. “The first thing I’d like to do is eat ice cream.”
Neuschäfer was unavailable for comment Monday as she headed to Cape Horn without Wi-Fi, her race manager told The Post in an email.
“She is delighted in her own private way to be leading, but now is not a time to be cocky,” manager Jerome Drnovsek said. “She is first because she is fast, but also because faster skippers have had accidents or technical issues. I’m sure she would have preferred to compete against Simon and Tapio all the way.”
Still, the race — in its 162nd day on Monday — is far from over, Drnovsek acknowledged.
“Being the leader must be almost like jinxing it,” Drnovsek said. “There is no way she is confident she’ll win this, when so many unexpected turns of event already happened.”