Living on Long Island, surrounded by various bays and harbors, the Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps gave Cole Brauer a subconscious leg up on becoming the sailor she is today. The 29-year-old got to prove just how good of a sailor this week, becoming the first American woman to complete a solo sail around the world as part of the Global Solo Challenge race.
- The numbers: Brauer's dangerous 30,000-mile journey, which started Oct. 29 and ended Thursday in A Coruna, Spain, took her 130 days, reports NBC News.
- Her reaction: "This is really cool and so overwhelming in every sense of the word," Brauer said upon completing the race, drinking champagne out of her trophy. She added, per an Instagram post cited by People: "Amazing finish!!!! So stoked!"
- Status: Brauer came in second out of the 16 competitors, so she didn't win the race, but she was the youngest competitor, the only woman, and now the only female American sailor to complete her circumnavigational feat. At 5 foot 2 inches and weighing just 100 pounds, she was also the smallest navigator in the race.
- Endurance: It wasn't an easy sail. In her 40-foot racing yacht First Light, Brauer plowed through 30-foot waves at some points, suffered a rib injury, and was forced to insert an IV into her own arm when she became dehydrated from diarrhea and throwing up. (See one particularly terrifying moment caught on video here, at around 0:15.)
- Fun fact: Brauer didn't technically learn to sail while growing up on Long Island. She first took a shot at the sport while attending college in Hawaii.
- What she's looking forward to: Now that she's back on terra firma, all Brauer wants is a croissant and cappuccino before she starts planning her next adventure. "My mouth is watering just thinking about that," she says, per NBC.
- Another fun fact: Fewer than 200 people have sailed around the world solo, per the International Association of Cape Horners. For context, more than 6,600 people have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
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