29-year-old skipper Cole Brauer of the US became the first US woman to sail solo across the world.On Thursday morning Cole drank champagne from her trophy after arriving in Spain and reunited with her family. The Long Island resident spent 130 days in the seas as part of the Global Solo Challenge. She covered a daunting 26,000 nautical miles long race that began in October off the coast of A Coruña, located in northwestern Spain, the New York Post said.
“I can’t believe it guys. I sailed around the world. That’s crazy. That’s absolutely crazy. This is awesome. Let’s just do it again. Let’s keep going!” she said as she approached the finish line in an Instagram live video.
“This goal has always been to be the First American Woman to Race Around the World. With this goal, I hope to show that this very male-dominated sport and community can become more open and less ‘traditional’,” Brauer’s Instagram profile says.
Cole Brauer is the only woman among 19 sailors who competed and is also among the seven who remained in race after the rest withdrew or quit.
She rode the waves on her racing boat, “First Light”. It is a 40-foot monohull sailboat that typically holds a one or two-person crew. She livestreamed her treacherous trip for her 459,000 Instagram followers on a daily basis.
She also suffered injuries as she broke her rib because of broaching near the African coast. Broaching happens when a boat unintentionally changes direction toward the wind.
“Solo sailors, you have to be able to do everything. You have to be able to get up even when you’re so exhausted and you have to be able to fix everything on the boat,” Brauer told news outlet NBC last week.
She reached the Pacific Ocean on December 29 and also sailed past the southernmost point of South America and reached the Atlantic on January 27. She marked her 100th day at sea on February 5. She also said that she felt her boat’s condition was deteriorating and said that she felt that the boat was “starting to break down” as she made her final push through the Atlantic.
Brauer slowed her arrival time near the finish line to coordinate with the “first light”, i.e. the time when the first rays of sunlight were seen in the morning, in a tribute to her boat.
“I’m glad that out of all times, I’m coming in at first light. It’s only necessary,” Brauer said.
Polish skipper Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz made history as the first woman to complete a solo circumnavigation of the globe, covering 31,166 nautical miles from 1976 to 1978. In 2005, Dame Ellen MacArthur set a record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the world, sailing 27,354 nautical miles in just 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds.
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