You’ve got to be a pretty extraordinary person to sail all the way around the world by yourself, and Cole Brauer, the first American woman to accomplish the feat, is just that. This 29-year-old from East Hampton made second place in the Global Solo Challenge with her boat, First Light. Starting her journey in Spain, Cole spent a total of 130 days alone on the water. She sailed about 30,000 miles without stopping. When she finally returned to land after completing the race, family and friends were there to celebrate her incredible achievement!
According to TODAY, Cole Brauer was the only woman to sail around the world in the Global Solo Challenge this time. She was also the youngest competitor. More than half of the other experienced sailors dropped out before reaching the finish line.
This journey is not for the faint of heart! Aside from the perils of the ocean, Cole Brauer also found herself facing significant injuries alone. Chilling footage shows the woman being thrown against the wall of her cabin by particularly turbulent waters. This incident did some nasty damage to her ribs! At one point, Cole was so dehydrated that she had to insert an IV into herself. Still, this woman was not about to quit before she finished sailing around the world!
Cole Brauer Has a Message for Other Groundbreaking Women
Cole Brauer documented her journey on Instagram, where she shared her progress and answered a variety of sailing questions. In one of her most popular videos, she gave a shoutout to her fellow trailblazing ladies for Valentine’s Day. As this woman sailed around the world, she wanted to remind others that they don’t have to conform to expectations based on their gender.
“This Valentines Day I am dedicating it to all the dream chasing, scream singing, grab life by the throat bad*** women who never fit into the cookie cutter type of flowers and a box of chocolates,” she wrote in her caption. “Cheers to all of you.”
Apparently, Cole Brauer’s teachers from high school were pretty invested in her race! Adam Fine, her former principal, was hardly surprised to see the woman sailing around the world by herself. According to him, she’d always demonstrated tremendous courage. In fact, he recalled a time that she jumped into action to help a stranger in a car wreck.
“It was really indicative of her personality — there was no fear, somebody involved in the accident, she went over to help,” Adam told NBC New York. “So when I watch videos of her putting in her own IV, I know she can handle these sorts of things.”
Not many people can say that they’ve sailed around the world solo, but Cole Brauer can — and she can also say that she was the first American woman to do it!
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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