Rich Wilson addresses the crowds in Les Sables d’Olonne at the end of the 2016/17 Vendée Globe. This was Wilson’s second Vendée and he completed both of them. On each occasion he crossed the line a long time after the race leaders but the Vendée Globe is the ultimate finishers’ race and he netted 10th out of 30 starters in 2008/09 and 13th from 28 in 2016/17
You’ve got it (so use it)
I was flicking idly through Facebook this morning, as one does when one is bored, and came across a post about Jon Sanders. Jon is an Australian yachtsman who is currently on his 11th solo circumnaviga- tion. He has gone around the world so many times in so many different ways that it’s becoming increasingly harder for him to do anything original. So this time instead of doing something
original he is doing it for a cause: joining the growing number of sailing projects drawing attention to the volume of plastic in the ocean. Similar to what Dee Caffari’s Volvo entry Turn the Tide on Plastic was all about. It’s a worthwhile cause and one I fully support but this article is not about that. It’s about how sailing has evolved into a way to do good in the world, how many big sailing projects are now not only
about the sailing but some other cause that’s running in parallel. Sanders will spend much of his circum-
navigation out of sight of land and only the occasional sea bird or dolphin will notice the three words emblazoned on his main- sail. No. Plastic. Waste. Just three words but they take up most of the real estate on his sail and send a very direct message. It doesn’t really matter how many indi-
vidual eyeballs see his sail, it’s more about the boat and the voyage being the centre- piece, or hook, of the effort, the broader message being spread through the internet and elsewhere to reach a much wider audi- ence. Having that hook to hang your mes- sage on is essential if you want more than a few friends to notice what it is you’re doing. The environment, climate change and
education are three constant and important themes now touted by numerous sailing projects. It’s obvious why; sailing is about being immersed in the environment and climate change is having a direct effect on the weather we sailors experience. But while I fully support these efforts the
one that interests me more is education. So many topics can be studied in parallel with a sailing project: geography, nutrition, weather, navigation or mathematics if you like, hygiene and, possibly the most impor- tant, the cultures of the different places where sailors stop. The list can go on. The now familiar idea of using an
around-the-world racing programme as a vehicle for promoting good in the world
was originally hatched by a little lady in Newport, Rhode Island. Mame Reynolds was a schoolteacher,
but she was also a sailor and interested in the BOC singlehanded around-the-world race which in those days used to start from Newport. This was in the 1980s and Mame immediately saw a link between the sailors out there battling the elements and school- children who could follow their progress and learn along the way. As she told me once, ‘It’s like teaching
children without them knowing that they are being taught.’ What she meant of course was that it was more fun than hard- ship for the kids to learn that way. This was long before the internet and
Mame wrote a fairly comprehensive cur- riculum along with numerous diagrams and illustrations, and printed and bound copies that were then sent to other teachers to use in their classrooms. By all accounts, and remembering that it was in a different era, it was a big success. Imagine how much of an impact she could have had if there had been an internet back then. My friend and neighbour Richie Wilson
has done not only two Vendée Globes but numerous other long-distance adventures all linked to a schools programme that grew over time to be highly successful and with a broad global impact. Richie is a smart guy. He has serious
science and mathematics degrees from both Harvard and MIT. And Richie knew that for an education program to be interesting
SEAHORSE 61
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