History made sailor, Cole Brouwer, has become the first American woman to race nonstop around the world by herself. The 29-year-old New York native arrived back in Spain this week, waving flares as you see here to celebrate her arduous and lengthy journey. Brouwer placed second out of 16 sailors who competed in the race. She shared her adventure with her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, hoping to inspire other women.

My whole goal was to be the first American woman to race solo around the world. There's been a couple of women that have come from the United States that have sailed around the world, but no American woman has actually raced around the world. I always wanted to race around the world before I turned 30. It looks like in the next couple of weeks, that's going to happen.

Now, Brower battled intense storms and rogue waves during her 30,000-mile trek. At one point, it was so rough that she injured her ribs after getting thrown across the boat. And joining us now is Cole Brower first. Congratulations. What an incredible accomplishment. How do you feel? How does it feel?

I would say that it feels pretty good. And to be honest, it doesn't feel as if I just went around the world, I stepped on the dock and you see all your friends and your family and they're staring at you. And you're like, why are they staring at me so weird? Why are they crying? Why is this thing so just It just didn't make any sense. I think maybe it just hasn't hit me the magnitude of it. I'm just like, Oh, let's go out. Let's go go out dancing. Let's go get together. Let's have a beverage. Let's go eat really good food since I have been restricted on the food that I've been able to eat. I'm just out here having my mini vacation and enjoying every moment.

Just incredible. And following your Instagram, It's really cool to see just your journey along the way. I'm wondering, half of the people who competed in this race dropped out because it was so challenging. What were some of the challenges that you experienced?

I think there was a few challenges. It's definitely just breakages. We started with almost everything was brand new before I left. But honestly, when it comes down to it, these things are just not made to go around the world. Like 30,000 miles, and you have these things that are really only made to go about 10,000 miles. And so you're doing all of your own maintenance on board, and you find out very quick, Oh, I probably should have brought that with me. But it's nonstop, and it's unassisted. So you have to figure out, Oh, I don't have that tool. I have to use a different tool. And that was a challenge, but I knew what I was getting myself into. So it was a little bit fun trying to figure it. It's a puzzle. It's always a puzzle.

Yeah, and in a That's interesting because obviously you prepared for this journey, but I'm wondering if you discovered anything that maybe you hadn't been expecting, or what was the most gratifying part of this journey?

Oh, gratifying. It's so interesting. I think just being out in the ocean. The only time that I've actually really cried since I've been back is I had an interview where he asked me, What are you going to miss? And it brought back all these memories of the pure ocean. It's just so clean, it's so fresh. There's no cars, there's no drama, there's no traffic. You just got outside, and it's just so pure. That's just an amazing thing.

Yeah, and it looked really peaceful, and I know you were out there journaling as well. Let me ask, Friday, of course, was International Women's Day. This is something that is obviously very important to you. I read something that you said it would be amazing if there was just one other girl that saw me and said, Oh, I can do that, too. Talk to me about how important it was to be breaking glass ceilings in this male-dominated sport.

I think that was always the goal in this entire process was we really wanted to make a statement, and I didn't And I didn't think it was going to go a little bit more as mainstream as it did. I really thought that it was going to be just the sailing world, and the sailing world is super male dominated. And I'm not really afraid to say that it's not going to work. I'm not really afraid to say it again.

Look, I mean, you just got back on land. You certainly deserve rest. You certainly deserve all the foods that you have been deprived of over the last four months. But I'm wondering, what's next for Cole Brower?

A lot of people have been asking me that, and I think I've always looked towards there's a French race called the Vendée Globe, and it happens every four years. So there's one happening this year, and then there's one happening in 2028. And so I really would like to line myself up well for the 2028 one, but it's tenfold on sponsorship money, and so I'm still looking for the next sponsorship. Everything takes time and energy and just getting back on the water. And so right now, it's just getting back out on the water as quickly as possible.

Well, look, a lot of people have loved your journey. You have almost half a million followers the last I checked. It's been such a joy talking to you. Congratulations. Enjoy all of the food, all of the rest, all the things you missed out on. Cole Brower, thanks so much. Thank you so much for having me.

I will be eating forever now. Yes, yes.

Well deserved. All right..