HER OWN WAY

COLE BRAUER IS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO SAIL SOLO NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT HOW SHE’S SHAKING THINGS UP

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The first Saturday in November was laundry day for Cole Brauer. One week into her single-handed around the world race, the Global Solo Challenge, the 29-yearold washed her smalls in a bucket, clipped them onto the lifelines of the Class 40 First Light, and posted a light-hearted video about it, hair in a towel, spa-style, with a confetti of underwear fluttering behind her.

Eyebrows were raised. Offshore skippers don’t usually share quite so much. Not only was Brauer going to put it all out there, but she was going to tell her story her own way – humorously, honestly, unashamedly feminine.

Over Brauer’s 130 days at sea her Instagram account became a juggernaut that built to nearly half a million followers. Many had no idea what sailing around the world actually entails.

But Brauer’s race wasn’t just a publicity stunt. She set out to become the first American woman to sail non-stop around the world, and did so in one of the most gruelling ocean races. The Global Solo Challenge is a pursuit format with boats’ start times staggered according to their handicap – for Brauer’s 2008 Class 40, that meant a 29 October start. It also means that rather than sailing with a pack, skippers are alone for the vast majority of the race, picking off slower opposition ahead, then slogging their way across the oceans without the reassurance of any fellow competitors nearby.

Of 16 starters, nine have retired. Boats were rolled, dismasted, one skipper had to abandon ship after a near-sinking. Brauer was the only woman and youngest competitor. When she finished in A Coruña on 7 March, her time of 130d 2h 45m set a new benchmark as the fastest solo non-stop around the world on a 40ft yacht. It was 17 days quicker than the winner, Philip Delamare, who had set off a month earlier.