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Hoda Kotb interviews Cole Brauer, who at age 29 became the first American woman to sail solo around the world, taking second place in the Global Solo Challenge race across a 130-day journey. Brauer discusses her upbringing as a competitive child with athletic parents, how she fell in love with sailing at the University of Hawaii despite being a walk-on, and why she chose to race solo after being told by a French team that her short stature made her a liability in the Southern Ocean. The conversation covers the intense physical and mental hurdles of the trip, including dealing with severe food poisoning on day two, cracking her ribs after being flung across the cabin, administering her own IV fluids, and spending two months in the Southern Ocean without human contact. Brauer also reflects on the overwhelming public support from her online fan base, known as the Mouse Pack, and her ongoing advocacy for gender equality in professional sailing.
Host Hoda Kotb opens the episode, introduces sponsors and sets the stage for the guest interview.
Cole Brauer is introduced, along with her family background and early life influences that shaped her determination.
Cole explains how she decided to pursue solo sailing, the challenges she faced, and the moment she committed to the race.
Host Hoda Kotb wraps up the episode, thanking Cole and encouraging listeners to pursue their own journeys of joy and resilience.
Discussion of the four months of training, securing sponsors, and the support network that helped Cole prepare for the voyage.
Cole recounts injuries like cracked ribs, dehydration, and how she managed medical care while isolated from land.
Cole reflects on the emotional impact of the voyage, the support of her fan base, and the insights she brings back to everyday life.
Cole describes the sudden wind change and his decision to focus solely on the race.
Cole explains how he handled the media’s demanding schedule and the pressure to perform.
Cole reflects on finishing the race, breaking the fastest 40‑foot boat record, and the significance of his achievement.
Cole discusses the male‑dominated nature of the sport, his fight for inclusion, and the shift toward gender parity.
Cole explains how his social media presence helped shift audience demographics to a 50/50 split.
Childhood Climbing Habitsstory
Brauer describes how her mother would watch her climb up the drapes as a little girl and simply conclude that nothing could be done to stop her.
Protecting Names on CVsinsight
Brauer explains that her parents gave her and her twin sister male names to protect them and make it easier to get jobs in the 1990s.
University of Hawaii Sailingstory
Brauer discovered sailing after moving to Hawaii for college, falling completely obsessed with the sport as an endurance athlete.
After a grueling two-week tryout on a 70-foot boat in France, Brauer was told she was too short for the Southern Ocean and would be a liability.
Brauer used Starlink during her voyage, making her boat the first sailboat to circumnavigate the planet with the technology, which allowed her followers to track her journey.
One month into the race, Brauer was flung across the boat when entering the Southern Ocean, cracking her ribs and pulling back muscles.
After suffering severe food poisoning on day two of the race, Brauer had to train herself to administer an IV fluid drip alone while the boat sailed through 40-knot winds.
Brauer finished second in the 16-competitor race as the only woman and the youngest by ten years, while also beating the speed record for a 40-foot boat by a week.
“It is an extraordinary story of perseverance, of optimism, of hope, of joy, of overcoming obstacles.”
“The most painful because it was, it's your whole torso. I couldn't use my right arm, which I'm a righty.”
“I had a lidocaine patch constantly on my ribs and I duct taped a pillow to my ribs.”
“I was like, am I gonna break the boat in half, you know, forty miles before the finish line right now? Like this would, so my anxiety was.”
“I had these little firefly lights because I didn't want to spend a hundred and thirty days in the dark at night.”
“And we also had a hidden record that the whole team knew about, which was, um, there's a record and it's the fastest forty foot boat to go around the planet out of men and women, everyone.”
“And what I realized what was so great about the social media is that I could see all of, you know, the analytics.”
"Feeling my ribs, trying to breathe like kind of whining and groaning in the corner of the boat... 'Did I just break my neck? Can I stand up? What's the decision that I need to do right now?' And the boat just kept sailing."   -Cole Brauer after rough seas nearly knocked her out Cole’s memoir “First Light: Sailing Solo But Not Alone” is available now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb is Presented by CVS. Shop your local CVS, right around the corner. Experience the full conversation on the "Joy 101 podcast with Hoda Kotb" wherever you listen to podcasts. For more information, please visit us at www.joy101.com/podcast https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joy101.com%2Fpodcast&data=05%7C02%7CBrianBurton%40iheartmedia.com%7Cd507dff8ff8b4276a40608df315624d5%7C122a527e5b714eba878d9810b495b9e3%7C0%7C0%7C639283918176475993%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=v8q3eBUHpztbNZUsEfeBf0vEomDmeeoZs5LiEc7D0f0%3D&reserved=0 See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
11,071 words · 7 speakers
Speaker names marked are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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