THE 29-YEAR-OLD SKIPPER IS BECOMING THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO RACE NONSTOP AROUND THE WORLD ALONEBy K.C. BAKER
Monster waves washed over Cole Brauer’s 40-ft. racing yacht, First Light, in January as she approached Cape Horn at the tip of South America, just above Antarctica. In this notoriously perilous stretch of ocean, where thousands of sailors before her have died in accidents, menacing gusts made controlling her boat difficult. “I was in hurricane-force winds,” says Brauer, 29. “There was so much pressure against the sail that I couldn’t get it down.” And she was alone. “I was angry and in disbelief,” she says. “But I had to make a plan and move on. I didn’t want to end up in a life raft.”
Brauer survived the maelstrom thanks to her superb sailing skills and sheer grit—qualities that are helping the Maine resident become the first American woman to race nonstop around the world during the Global Solo Challenge. The inaugural 27,000-mile race began in Spain in August, but because the racers have staggered start times, she embarked on Oct. 29 (see sidebar). The only woman in the race, she was in second place at press time and expects to finish her remaining 5,000 miles by early March. Already four of her 16 male challengers have dropped out as their endurance was tested. Speaking to People from her boat via Zoom, she declares, “We’re doing it!”
INSIDE HER LIFE AT SEA
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The daughter of a contractor and a former dance-wear store owner, Brauer grew up near the ocean in East Hampton, N.Y., where she’d kayak to school with her twin sister. “I thought sailing was super boring,” she recalls. That changed after she enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i in 2013 to study nutrition. “I wanted to get into the ocean,” she says. So she joined the sailing team and went “from never sailing to competing at the College Sailing National Championships,” she says. “I made a goal each year of what I wanted to do in the sailing world. And I’ve reached every goal.”
When a mentor asked about her dreams after she graduated from college in 2017, she replied, “I want to race around the world before I hit 30.” Asked how she’d do it, “I had no idea,” recalls Brauer, who worked on maintenance in a boat-yard before becoming a professional captain in 2018. Yearning for the thrill of racing, she began sailing competitively again at 24, this time professionally. Last July she became the first female to win the Bermuda One-Two Yacht Race for adventure seekers. “That was a turning point,” she says.
Now she’s using every ounce of physical and mental strength to circumnavigate the planet alone. “There is no quitting,” says Brauer, who in December sustained a rib injury from a wave that threw her across the cabin. “No one’s going to save you and be like, ‘It’s okay, honey.’ ” Still, thanks to Starlink satellite Internet service, Brauer has daily check-ins with her 14-person team, including a router, a medic, a sail repair expert and a project manager who oversees logistics. When weather allows, she FaceTimes with loved ones and shops online. “She’s a girlie girl and a tomboy,” says teammate Serena Vilage. “She’s doing a stereotypically badass male endeavor, but she also loves high heels.” Says Brauer, who hopes to inspire inclusion and respect for females in the male-dominated sport: “There should be more of us.”
COURTESY COLE BRAUER(2)CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY COLE BRAUER(4); COURTESY GLOBAL SOLO CHALLENGE