Sailors' Lecture Series: Vendee Globe Racing Solo Non-Stop Around the World

The Sailors’ Series is an annual, legacy lecture series of the New Bedford Whaling Museum that presents a wide variety of experiences and adventures by individuals with lifelong commitments to sailing, boats, and the sea.

The Vendee Globe is certainly the toughest sailing race in the world. It requires three months of racing singlehanded, non-stop around the world in the world’s roughest oceans. Fewer than 150 sailors have ever finished the race. Rich Wilson has done it twice, most recently in 2017 at the age of 66. With degrees from Harvard and MIT, along with varied successful careers, Wilson is a renowned sailor with an impressive list of world-records and other victories.

 A unique aspect of his racing is an interactive education program conducted while racing. The program reached two million school children around the world. “I had no interest whatsoever in just sailing the race. It’s too hard. It’s too dangerous,” he said. Wilson’s goal was to excite students by connecting them to a live ocean expedition. “Excite a kid with dolphins, flying fish, and gales at sea and they will pay attention. Then the science, geography, and math flow freely.”   

6 p.m. reception; 6;30 p.m. presentation. Museum members $15; non-members $25. Tickets are available online or by calling 508-997-0046 x100.