Thursday, 4:30 PM
Marblehead man plans solo sail around the world
(sitesALIVE! Photo)
Rich Wilson plans to sail the 60-foot Great American III in the race.
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
A Marblehead man is hoping to sail around the world alone in a race next year.
Rich Wilson, 57, is already an accomplished long-distance sailor. But the Vendee Globe race is a tough race. It will take more than 100 days and cover more than 25,000 miles.
"I've spent a fair amount of time at sea, but this will be the biggest challenge, for sure," said Wilson.
Wilson has completed three transatlantic runs by himself and other longer voyages with a shipmate, including 15,000-mile trips from San Francisco to Boston, from New York to Melbourne, and from Hong Kong to New York.
Wilson is the president of sitesALIVE!, a company whose mission is to connect students to "learning adventures" on land and sea.
Wilson plans to write a diary from the boat during his trip, sharing it with schoolchildren through the Newspaper in Education program.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge and to being in nature that long and trying to solve all the problems that will come on and trying to write the best pieces I possibly can for the schoolkids," he said.
The next hurdle is a qualifying race in December from Brazil to France.
