Series 5 - Ep6 - Cole Brauer - Part 2

This is Part 2 of podcast host and Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson's chat with the first American woman to have sailed non-stop, alone, around the planet - the remarkable Cole Brauer, who took time out from an Admiral's Cup campaign to sit down and talk about her remarkable career to date.

In Part 1 we hear how, aged just 29, American Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in her Class40 First Light.  Throughout the first episode Brauer discusses her late discovery of the sport, a passion for sailing offshore and how she found herself taking up the opportunity of a solo round the world race.

Brauer had 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 with 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.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.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 podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.