Cole Brauer, a captain from Long Island, New York, made history Thursday when she became the first American woman to sail around the world.
The 29-year-old tearfully reunited with her family after arriving in Spain after 130 days at sea, drinking champagne from her trophy to toast her achievement.
Bauer had been competing in the Global Solo Challenge, a daunting 26,000 nautical mile long race, which began off the coast of A Coruña, a port city in the northwestern region of Galicia, Spain, in October.
‘Incredible finish!!!! So lively! Thank you to everyone who came together and made this process possible,” he wrote in an Instagram caption alongside a photo of her standing on the side of his boat as he waved flares as it docked.
Brauer finished second in the race, behind French skipper Philippe Delamare, who won the challenge on February 24 after 147 days and one hour sailing around the world.
Long Island captain Cole Brauer became the first American woman to sail around the world
Brauer competed in the Global Solo Challenge, a massive 26,000 nautical mile race
Of the 19 sailors competing, Brauer was the only woman and only seven participants remained in the regatta after withdrawals and abandonments.
Brauer, who is just 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds, completed the dangerous journey aboard his racing boat, called ‘First Light,’ a 40-foot monohull sailboat that typically has a crew of one or two people.
“It has a strong pedigree and has been loved since its inception,” Brauer said of the boat in his sailing profile. ‘I know the ship better than any other ship I have ever sailed. “We understand each other very well.”
Brauer intentionally slowed his finish as he approached the finish line to coordinate with the first traffic light honoring his boat.
Her route first took her along the west coast of Africa and around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope before entering the waters of the Southern Ocean in early December.
She arrived in the Pacific Ocean on December 29, and since she missed celebrating the holidays at home, she decorated First Light with a small felt Christmas tree and prepared a dress and champagne for New Year’s Day.
The New York native traveled beyond Cape Horn, the southernmost point in South America, surviving the notoriously deadly Drake Passage, which is the turbulent strait that connects the Pacific and the Atlantic just above Antarctica, and returned to enter the Atlantic on January 27.
The 29-year-old opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate his return to dry land.
The New Yorker passed around Cape Horn and re-entered the Atlantic on January 26 and 27.
Her 100th day at sea came during her final leg across the Atlantic on February 5.
Brauer documented his journey on social media and provided regular updates to his 460,000 Instagram followers.
She revealed that in December she suffered a rib injury when she was thrown across First Light due to a brush (the involuntary change of direction of a ship into the wind) in the turbulent waters near Africa.
“Solo boaters have to be able to do it all,” Brauer told NBC on March 3. “They have to be able to get up even when they are very exhausted and they have to be able to fix everything on the boat.” ‘
Brauer documented his journey and provided his 459,000 followers with regular updates.
Brauer grew up on Long Island, but attended the University of Hawaii in 2014 before finding his niche in solo sailing.
Polish captain Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz became the first woman to sail solo around the world when she traveled 31,166 nautical miles between 1976 and 1978.
In 2005, Dame Ellen MacArthur sailed 27,354 nautical miles in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds, which was the record for the fastest solo circumnavigation around the world at the time.
The current record is held by Frenchman Francois Gabart, who completed the trip in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds in 2017.