Sailor Cole Brauer Becomes First U.S. Woman to Race Solo Around World

NY skipper Cole Brauer totally crushed her goal and made history ... becoming the first U.S. woman to sail solo around the world!

The 29-year-old from Long Island marked the achievement as she sailed into Spain Thursday morning ... tearfully reuniting with her family and popping champagne bottles from her trophy to celebrate over 130 days of being out to sea.

Cole's journey was all part of the Global Solo Challenge ... a wild 26,000 nautical mile nonstop race that kicked off from the coast of A Coruña, in northwestern Spain, back in October and circled right back to the same spot.

Throughout the journey, she kept her IG followers in the loop, documenting the ups and downs of the dangerous trip onboard her 40-foot monohull sailboat -- and there were loads of times the weather clearly wasn't in her favor .. but for Cole, it was all part of the adventure!

Cole also brought her followers along for the epic finale on IG Live ... and in her official celebratory post, she gushed: "Amazing finish!!!! So stoked! Thank you to everyone that came together and made this process possible. 😭😍🌈🤙🏼."

She had her eyes on the prize for quite some time ...according to her sailing profile, she said she always dreamed of becoming the first American woman to race around the world, mainly 'cause she wanted to make the male-dominated sport more inclusive for others.

And Cole's definitely broken barriers ... 'cause she was the only woman in the mix of 19 sailors -- and only 7 remained in the race after the rest dropped out along the way. So her feat is even more remarkable!