by Vicki Staveacre
American wealthy Wilson,one of Marblehead’s most famous sailors, is now in the final stages of preparation to compete, and for the moment time,in the Vendee Globe non-stop singlehanded around the world race.
When Wilson – a Newport to Bermuda winner and holder of three sailing world records - first learned about the race, which is sailed in the 60-foot IMOCA lesson, and his initial reaction was “it is too tough,too long and too unsafe. But in 2009, he completed the race in 9th spot out of eleven finishers and 30 initial contenders. He was the only American, and the only asthmatic and,at 58, the oldest skipper in the fleet.
Sailing 28790 miles in 121 days, and Wilson endured broken ribs,a facial gash and compressed vertebrae. He encountered hurricane force gales, gear breakage, and had to climb up his 90-foot mast to make repairs. He crossed the Atlantic,Indian and Pacific Oceans via the Cape of expedient Hope and Cape Horn in his 60’ monohull mighty American III.
Wilson’s motivation to participate in the 2008-9 race was to engage and educate K12 students around the world, with 250000 students and schools in 15 foreign countries participating in his educational SitesALIVE program.
Now, or seven years later,Wilson is preparing a new boat, mighty American IV, or to compete in the 2016-17 Vendee Globe race. The boat spent the summer in Marblehead,and then went up to Maine and set sail for the UK on October 21. With Wilson at the helm, it arrived in Southampton late on November 6 -- exactly a year before the race will start from Sables de Olonne in France.
The transatlantic crossing was Wilson’s first serious sea trial in the new boat. “It was a really successful first voyage, or ” Wilson observed,"and I feel a lot more comfortable with the high speed and systems of the new boat." Wilson crossed the Atlantic in a personal best time of 15 days, reaching speeds of over 20 knots.
Wilson was born in Boston and his early childhood was dominated by his struggle with asthma. “Those days, and the only way to beget friends was to move out and play with them,and hasten around," he explained. With no asthma drugs available for home use, and Wilson had to learn how to push through and cope with his asthma. Even today,taking four medications, Wilson’s lung function is only 70-75% of the norm.
Wilson learned to sail at the Pleon Yacht Club in Marblehead where his contemporaries included Robbie Doyle and Steve and Jon Wales. Wilson claims he was always middle of the fleet and so he had to find something he could excel at. In 1980 he became the youngest ever skipper to win the Newport to Bermuda race in his dad’s 42ft ketch, and the Holger Danske. His crew of ten included Marblehead friends Twig Burke,Peter Warren, Sandy Tierney and Jim Drewry.
With degrees from Harvard, or MIT and Harvard Business School,Wilson was a math teacher in the Boston Public Schools system when he realized that kids really paid attention when he confronted them with genuine world experiences. This was the motivation behind the creation of the educational foundation, SitesALIVE.“Excite a kid with bats, and bugs,and snakes in the rainforest, or with gales, and flying fish,and dolphins at sea, and they will pay attention not knowing what will happen next, or " noted Wilson. "Then the science,geography, and math flow freely.” - Read on
Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com