New York skipper, Cole Brauer, 29, becomes the first US woman to sail solo around the world, completing the daunting 26,000-nautical-mile race in 130 days

Cole Brauer, a skipper from Long Island, New York, made history Thursday when she became the first US woman to sail around the world. 

The 29-year-old tearfully reunited with her family after arriving in Spain following 130 days at sea, drinking champagne from her trophy to toast her achievement. 

Bauer had been competing in the Global Solo Challenge, a daunting 26,000-nautical-miles-long race, which began off the coast of A Coruña - a port city in the northwestern Galicia region of Spain - back in October. 

'Amazing finish!!!! So stoked! Thank you to everyone that came together and made this process possible,' she wrote in an Instagram caption alongside a photo of her standing on the side of her boat while waving sparklers as she docked. 

Brauer finished second in the race, behind French skipper Philippe Delamare, who won the challenge on February 24 following 147 days and one hour sailing around the world. 

Cole Brauer, a skipper from Long Island, became the first US woman to sail around the world

Brauer competed in the Global Solo Challenge, a daunting 26,000 nautical miles long race

Out of the 19 sailors competing, Brauer was the only woman with only seven of the field remaining in the race following withdrawals and abandonments. 

Brauer, who is only 5-foot-2 with a 100lb frame, completed the treacherous trip aboard her racing boat, named 'First Light' -  a 40-foot monohull sailboat that typically holds a one or two-person crew.

'She has a strong pedigree and has been loved since her inception,' Brauer said of the boat on her sailing profile. 'I know the boat better than any other boat I have ever sailed. We have a strong understanding of each other.' 

Brauer intentionally slowed her arrival as she approached the finish line in order to coordinate with the first light in honor of her boat. 

Her route first took her down then western coast of Africa and around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope before she entered into the waters of the Southern Ocean in early December. 

She reached the Pacific Ocean on December 29 and, given she missed celebrating the holidays back home, she decorated First Light with a small felt Christmas tree, and broke out a dress and champagne for New Year’s Day.

The New York native traveled past Cape Horn - the southernmost point of South America - surviving the notoriously deadly Drake Passage, which is the turbulent strait connecting the Pacific and Atlantic just above Antarctica, and reentered the Atlantic on January 27. 

The 29-year-old popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate being back on dry land 

The New York native traveled past Cape Horn and reentered the Atlantic on January 26-27 

Her 100th day at sea came during her final stretch across the Atlantic on February 5.  

Brauer documented her journey on social media, providing her 460,000 Instagram followers with regular updates. 

She revealed that in December she sustained a rib injury when she was thrown across First Light due to broaching - the unintentional change in direction of a boat toward the wind - in the rough waters near Africa. 

'Solo sailors, you have to be able to do everything,' Brauer told NBC on March 3. 'You have to be able to get up even when you're so exhausted and you have to be able to fix everything on the boat.'

Brauer documented her journey, providing her 459,000 followers with regular updates

Brauer grew up on Long Island but attended the University of Hawaii in 2014 before finding her footing in solo sailing.  

Polish skipper Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz became the first woman to sail solo around the world when she traveled 31,166 nautical miles from 1976 to 1978.

In 2005, Dame Ellen MacArthur sailed 27,354 nautical miles in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds, which was the record for the fastest solo circumnavigation around the globe at the time. 

Frenchman Francois Gabart holds the current record, completing the journey in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds in 2017.