Piloting the 40-foot yacht, First Light, Cole Brauer arrived early Thursday morning at the same port in northwest Spain from which she disembarked four months ago. After tying off in harbor, Brauer became the first American woman to solo-circumnavigate the world without making any stops.
Cole Brauer completed her 4-month and 27,000 miles voyage as a competitor in the Global Solo Challenge offshore race. The 29-year-old finished second overall and was the only woman competing in this year’s global solo challenge.
With the help of satellite internet and a social media team on shore, Brauer grew a following of almost half-a-million on Instagram throughout the competition. Brauer chronicled her journey through near-daily posts, unafraid to be show the raw emotions that come with off-shore racing.
"[Her social-media presence is] not self-aggrandizing, it’s not a lie," said Sam Lloyd, a yachtsman in Boothbay Harbor has sailed with Brauer on various crews. "I think there was a post at the beginning where she was just in tears: she was like, 'I wasn’t gonna post, but the tears won’t stop coming. What am I doing? This is insane.' I don’t think a lot of people are comfortable or confident enough to express multiple facets of their human experience so publicly.”
Brauer — whose family lives in Boothbay Harbor — got her start in competitive sailing while working for the junior sailing team at the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club. It was there that yacht captain Tim Fetsch first began to mentor Brauer in sailing.
"This type of race is difficult because in some ways it’s a war of attrition, [needing to avoid] a failure in equipment or in yourself that causes you to stop before finishing," said Fetsch, who checked in with Brauer during her voyage several times a week via text. "She's gonna take a deep breath and spend some time with family, and then decide what comes next. Hopefully, we’ll see her back in Maine this summer."
