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When Michel Dejoyeaux won the Vendee Globe, a solo round the world sailing race, American Rich Wilson was still along the coast of South America. Wilson’s goal was to be able to finish the race, not an easy accomplishment since out of the 30 boats who started Wilson finished 9th with only 2 boats still remaining in the race. During the race he averaged 9.84 knots while covering 28,590 miles.
Wilson also became the older sailor at 58 to finish the race and the second American. While racing on board his Open 60 class boat, Great American III, he encountered many challenges including breaking his rib, getting a cut below his eye and dealing with severe asthma.
The course is a challenging one encountering some of the windiest ocean conditions and icebergs. Wilson encountered 60 knots winds that almost capsized his boat and lost the wind direction input to his autopilot. Losing the connection in the Southern Ocean meant he could only take brief naps and had the extra burden of heavy fatigue since he has only been able to set the pilot to compass course.
During the race in order to avoid strong seas and weather patterns, Wilson had to detour almost a 1000 miles in order to get around high pressure systems. But in the end he prevailed and was able to attain his goal of being able to finish the most challenging sailing race in the world. In a field populated with professional die hard solo sailors his accomplishment in finishing the race as an amateur sailor becomes that much more impressive.
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