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A CORUNA, Spain — Cole Brauer braved three seas and bad weather while sailing solo.
When she and her 40-foot (12.2-meter) yacht arrived in A Coruña, Spain, on Thursday, the 29-year-old had traveled nearly 30,000 miles (48,280 kilometers) to compete in a solo, non-stop round-the-world race. She was the first American woman to do so. .
Ms. Brauer, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms), is one of more than a dozen sailors competing in the Global Solo Challenge. She Brauer was the youngest and only woman in the group that set sail from La Coruña in October.
The starts were staggered. Brauer set out on October 29, but as of Thursday, several people on the field had dropped out of the race.
The race took Brower south along the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and then east to Australia. From there, continuing east, Brower faced the unpredictable and dangerous Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, then crossed the Atlantic Ocean and headed northeast toward Spain.
The race took 130 days to complete.
“This is really cool and overwhelming in every sense of the word,” Braugher said Thursday before drinking the trophy’s champagne as his family and fans celebrated, according to NBC News.
Although Brauer is the first American woman to circumnavigate the world solo, she is not the first woman to do so. Polish sailor Kristina Chozinowska-Riskiewicz completed her 401-day voyage around the world on April 21, 1978, according to her online sailing site.
Kaye Cottee of Australia became the first woman to accomplish this feat in November 1987 when she set sail from Sydney Harbour, Australia and returned 189 days later.
Even on a ship with a full crew, sailing around the world is no easy task.
“As a solo sailor, you have to be able to do everything. You have to be able to take care of yourself,” Braugher told NBC’s “Today” show Thursday. You must be able to get up even if you are very tired. And you have to be able to fix everything on the boat. ”
Satellite communication has allowed Brauer to stay in touch with her race team and connect with fans on social media, posting videos of her races and her boat “First Light.”
Along the way, she encountered waves as high as 30 feet (9.1 meters), which threw her boat around, according to NBC News.
She injured her ribs and was also given an IV drip to prevent dehydration.
Sailing solo means not only being the captain, but also the project manager, race organizer Marco Nannini said. He says that means steering the ship, making repairs, knowing the weather and staying healthy.
“Your greatest asset is not your physical strength, but your mental strength,” Nannini said. “Cole is showing it to everyone.”
One of Ms. Brauer’s Dec. 8 social media posts showed her frustration.
“I haven’t had time to catch up on everything that’s happened in the last 48 hours, but long story short, the autopilot started working again, so I replaced some parts and recalibrated the rudder. It needed to be done,” she wrote. . “For a time, the light air is actually helping, but I’m exhausted and feeling sore and tired.”
“It’s all part of the journey, and I think you’ll feel better after work and a little sleep,” Brauer added. “But things are tough right now.”
However, she has coped with tough situations even though some sports officials believed it was impossible due to her gender and small size.
“When someone says, ‘No, you can’t do that,’ or ‘You’re too small,’ I push harder,” Brauer said.
“It would be great if there was just one other girl who could look at me and say, ‘Oh, I can do this too,'” she added.
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