Cole Bauer’s update this morning via her Instagram feed shows the 29-year-old sailor’s usual upbeat attitude, even after the past 8 days of banging into the wind, navigating leaks sprung aboard her 40’ racing yacht, and sleepless nights as she now approaches the Azore Islands, setting up her second-to-last gybe before she lines her bow up on the coast of Spain and the finish of this year’s Global Solo Challenge.

Looking ahead, this 5’2 solo sailor who weighs in at 98 lbs, predicts her arrival at the finish line to be either late night March 5 or early morning March 6, 2024. Her highly anticipated arrival will cement Brauer’s place in history as the first American female to complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation by the three Great Capes, thus joining an elite group of less than 200 humans that have ever achieved this heady goal.  

The 2023-2024 non-stop Global Solo Challenge is considered a "budget-friendly" sailing race that has sailors circumnavigating the globe around the three great capes, beginning and ending in A Coruña, Spain. The race is organized using a pursuit start, where competitors are assigned a start date based on their boat's speed rating. The slowest boats start first and the fastest leave last. If all goes well, the boats can be expected to finish around the same time, leaving the racing times up to the skill of the skippers and the prevailing weather conditions. Brauer, sailing the Class40 sailing yacht “First Light” departed with six other boats on October 29. It’s been over 4 months at sea alone for the twenty-nine year old female.

On October 29, 2023 launch, Brauer and First Light, along with six other boats, set sail from A Coruña, Spain. Brauer then traveled down the west African coast, rounding South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, before heading to the Indian Ocean, where she rounded Cape Leeuwin in Australia before setting out across the Pacific toward South America.

“I grew up on a nature preserve, wandering through the tall grass of the creek and playing in the mud watching the tide come in. I spent a lot of time alone exploring nature. I was fascinated with clouds, animal bones, and watching the weather roll by. When I moved to Hawaii for University, all I wanted was to get out on the water. Accessing the sailing community in Hawaii was the logical step. I had no idea that this entire community was going to take me under their wing the way they did and push me to pursue my wildest dreams.” 
– From interview with Cole Brauer on Sail World

Brauer’s passion for single handed sailing is inspired - in part - by the life story of another female sailor, Ellen McCarthur. After reading McCarthur’s book Taking On the World Brauer made it her personal goal to sail around the world solo. No stranger herself to overcoming adversity, and often being the only woman in a male dominated sport of open ocean sailing, Brauer’s focus for the Global Solo Challenge is to become the first American woman to race solo around the world in order to raise awareness around an often overlooked issue in the sailing world. She is dedicating her voyage in support of Safe Sail, a non-profit organization advocating for a more inclusive and respectful sailing environment for women, Brauer is determined to motivate change through fostering a community which encourages and respects women sailors.

“I hope to show that this very male-dominated sport and community CAN become more open and less "traditional”, says Brauer. “This is changing a mindset that has been set in stone by many boat clubs, yacht clubs, and people (women and men). I will be fighting against the constant sexual, verbal, and physical harassment for not just myself but for the Corinthian and Professional women sailors in this sport. As professional sailors, we have been fighting for many years for equal pay (we are paid significantly less than a man in the same position), we are harassed by teammates, owners, clients, race organizers, and many others in this community. Just as well as this community has built me up, it has broken me and my fellow female teammates down.”

“I am doing this race for them. Please follow safesail.org, this is an organization that is changing the world of sailing as we know it. It is giving people an opportunity to report harassment to listening ears in the sailing community.”

On January 26th, 2024 Brauer rounded Cape Horn in second place.

Brauer’s strategic planning and technical prowess is currently holding the No. 2 position aboard First Light. Now, a mere five days from the finish of this tremendous feat, her daily Instagram posts have captured her voyage for over 425K followers who are inspired by this young gun’s tenacious efforts.

Today’s message unveiled her strategy for this final week of sailing, including riding the lift north of the Azores, making her second-to-last gybe along her passage and pointing First Light straight on towards Spain and the finish line. 

You can follow Cole Brauer at @colebraueroceanracing on Instagram, support and track her via her website at https://colebraueroceanracing.com or donate to Safe Sails at https://safesails.org .

Carry on, Cole!  We salute you.