Shirley Robertson: US Offshore phenom Cole Brauer talks Offshore success, social media and more...

by Shirley Robertson 15 Aug 10:37 NZST 15 August 2025

This month, podcast host and Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson talks to the first American woman to have sailed non-stop, alone, around the planet, as Cole Brauer takes time out from an Admiral's Cup campaign to sit down and talk about her remarkable career to date.

It was in March 2024, aged just 29, that American sailor Cole Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in her Class40 First Light. After 130 days at sea, she'd set a new Class40 record, and scored a second place in the first edition of the race. Remarkably, she also became the first ever woman from the United States to sail non-stop solo around the planet. Her story is a tale of grit, determination and perseverance, and it's a story she tells well.

In a candid interview with Robertson, Brauer discusses the drive and motivations behind her success, which are varied and complex, but also admits to drawing on inspiration from famed British solo legend, Dame Ellen MacArthur...:

"This woman is my size, she is...against all these very very skilled experienced men and in the the early 2000s, especially to do it at such a young age and...she killed it, she completely rocked it and I remember just crying and thinking 'That's it, I've got to do that, whatever it takes, that's my way in to this offshore world'. And of course that's pretty far fetched for anyone from the United States, man or woman, because there isn't that many people that are American that have even thought about the Vendee...or even know what it is. But I knew at that moment after reading her book that that was what I really wanted to do."

Brauer's interview reveals a comparatively late discovery of the sport, early days spent living in a van, working through a long list of boatyard jobs, before significant success in the Bermuda One-Two led to bigger opportunities. Brauer backed herself, seized the opportunities and soon found herself on the start line of the solo non stop Global Solo Challenge. It's an inspiring tale, that over the race, Brauer would share with a growing number of fans. Throughout the 130 days, her following grew by the thousands, so much so that she currently boasts more Instagram followers than almost any other sailing based account on the photo sharing platform...:

"After the first month we went from ten thousand followers and I finished the first month with one hundred thousand followers, and then it just accelerated from there, where we were just getting seven thousand followers a day, and these people were real, they were real like your Mom and Pop just watching this, who had no idea, anything about sailing."

The social media aspect to Cole's story leads to an interesting discussion as she reveals to Robertson the good and the bad sides of daily posts to hundreds of thousands of followers. The duo also then discuss Brauer's feeling of responsibility as a role model, a position she takes very seriously, and her feelings on the lack of opportunity for women in the sport...:

"I'm living in a van in the parking lot. And the guy next to me is making ridiculously more money than me. Why...? It's because he asked for more. Because he walked into the room and he realised what he was worth."

It's a topic Brauer is passionate about, but she also discusses this in an eloquent and powerful manner.

Shortly after the interview, Brauer went on to win the Admiral's Cup as part of Monaco Yacht Club's two boat Jolt team. She is currently co-skipper onboard IMOCA Malizia, competing on the Ocean Race Europe.

Episode 1

Episode 2

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact .