In addition to Boris Herrmann, Susann Beucke will also start at the Ocean Race. As the Olympic sailor from Kiel announced on Tuesday, she will be tackling the legendary circumnavigation of the world with Kevin Escoffier’s team.
“This is so exciting, probably the most exciting thing I’ve done,” the 31-year-old Tokyo silver medalist wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “I still can’t believe it, but it’s really happening.” Beucke will be sailing the Ocean Race around the world, which begins on January 15, on board the racing yacht “PRB” with skipper Kevin Escoffier. In Alicante, Spain, the starting shot for the hunt around the world – over 32,000 nautical miles, in several stages.
“It’s a lifelong dream of mine – and it’s beginning.”
— Susan Beucke
The last time German sailors took part in the team regatta around the world was 40 years ago. In the Whitbread Round the World Race, as the competition was called until 1998, Gisela Bunck and Anke Schulz were part of the crew on “Walross 3” in 1981/1982. The two women from the Akademischer Segler-Verein Berlin completed the fourth stage from Mar del Plata in Argentina across the Atlantic to Portsmouth in the UK.
The Ocean Race: The Stages
1st stage: Alicante – Cape Verde
Start: January 15; Expected arrival: January 22nd
1,900 nautical miles
2nd stage: Cape Verde – Cape Town/South Africa
Start: January 25th. Expected arrival: February 9th
4,600 nautical miles
3rd stage: Cape Town – Itajai/Brazil
Start: February 26; Expected arrival: April 1st
12,750 nautical miles
4th stage: Itajai/Brazil – Newport/USA
Launch: April 23; Expected arrival: May 10th
5th stage: Newport/USA – Aarhus/Denmark
Start: May 21; Expected arrival: May 30th
3,500 nautical miles
6th stage: Aarhus/Denmark – Fly-By Kiel – The Hague/Netherlands
Start: June 8; Kiel (no stop) June 9; Expected arrival: June 11th
800 nautical miles
7th stage: The Hague/Netherlands – Genoa/Italy
Start: June 15; Expected finish: July 1st
2,200 nautical miles
Already trained with Herrmann
In the last solo circumnavigation, Herrmann caused a sensation when he came fifth. Beucke has already trained with the Hamburger. “He is an old family friend and is at my side as a mentor and advisor,” she revealed to NDR last summer.
The two North Germans will now be opponents in the Ocean Race. This year, after 15 years of Olympic team sport on a small dinghy, Beucke switched to solo sailing on the high seas, which is full of deprivation. Her long-term goal is to take part in the Vendée Globe.
Vendée Globe drama 2020 about Escoffier
With Escoffier she is allowed to sail alongside an extremely experienced and tried-and-true skipper. In 2017, the Frenchman was part of Charles Gaudrelier’s winning team.
At the Vendée Globe 2020, Escoffier had a drama with a happy ending. After an accident on his yacht in the Southern Ocean, he had to transfer to the life raft 840 nautical miles south-west of Cape Town. The competitors rushed to help, including Herrmann. Ultimately, skipper Jean Le Cam fished Escoffier out of the water and prevented worse.
This topic in the program:
NDR 2 Sports | 12/27/2022 | 11:03 p.m
