A Good Luck Message from Danny in China

Today I received an email that read ‘Danny from China’ added a message to the Vendee Globe 2008 voicethread. I was happy that he somehow found this voiethread and recorded his message. I made a screencast so that I could archive the message. As Rich Wilson prepares for the Vendee Globe many Chinese students will be following. I’m sure that Danny will be one of them! I’ll have to make a new Voicetrhead for students to add a Good Luck message for the Vendee Globe 2016. Thank you Danny for your message! https://www.dropbox.com/s/9y4j3zxo019irr4/From%20Danny%20in%20China.m4v?dl=0

The original Voicethread is at this link:
https://voicethread.com/myvoice/#thread/232870

Rich Wilson Speaks with Fifth Graders

As Rich Wilson prepares for the November 2016 Vendee Globe, I have been looking through photos and articles from previous voyages. In this series of photos from a few years ago, Rich is retelling some of his experiences with the Vendee Globe 2008. To find out more information about the upcoming voyage go to: http://www.sitesalive.com
http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/skipper-2016/69/rich-wilson.html
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A Very Quick November!

It has been such a busy few weeks, I completely missed posting about Thanksgiving! Maybe it is because it came just after the two days off from Hurricane Sandy and Veterans Day weekend. And now, we are already into the Christmas season.


A quick update on Vasya and Penny in Ross Island, Antarctica. They are both doing well and Jean Pennycook reported that they have two eggs! Great news for all of the Jackson first graders who are following them on http://www.penguinscience.com We look forward to watching the pair as they await their baby chicks! And are delighted to have international neighbors with an adopted penguin from Stefan Nielson’s class in Denmark named Mary and his mate, named Pocholo by students in José Manuel Sáez López class in Petrola, Spain.
Over the next few weeks we are going to work on our Christmas houses in Scratch at the upper grade levels and some holiday greetings in K – 2. With an early Thanksgiving we have a few more days in December to enjoy the wonderful Christmas holidays ahead.
As of this posting it looks like there are 13 sailors who remain in the Vendee Globe. I was very sad to see that Samantha Davies had a demasting early on in the race. She is an inspiration and role model for everyone. Now just 15 days into the race and Vincet Riou, Zbigniew Gutkowski, Jeremie Beyou, Louis Burton, Kito de Pavant and Marc Guillemot are all in the ‘Retired’ group. All of these sailors are the most amazing in the world. I will treasure the book France to France, Antarctica to the Starboard that Skipper Rich Wilson wrote this past summer. He tells his story of the Vendee Globe 2008. There are not that many people who have had the successful completion of this epic race. I am so happy that Rich was able to. Good luck and safe travels to all of the sailors who remain in this year’s race. And for those in the New England area, I recommend Rich Wilson’s upcoming talks in Salem and Marblehead: http://www.facebook.com/rich.wilson.355


16e jour de course – Dimanche 25 novembre by VendeeGlobeTV

France to France- Antarctica to the Starboard by Rich Wilson

I finally received my copy of Rich Wilson’s new book, France to France–Antarctica to the Starboard on Thursday. http://www.sitesalive.com Ironically it arrived just a few weeks before the start of the 2012 Vendee Globe. Has it really been four years since the start of the Vendee Globe in 2008? Where did the time go? I remember sitting on my couch in November 2008, watching the start of the Vendee Globe with my friend Anne in Australia, Venny in Taipei, Marina in Italy, Vincent in France, Amalia in Spain and Neal in MA. We could see the sailors approaching the start of the event in Les Sables d’Olonne. We were all texting to each other. Although thousands of miles from the race, we could somehow feel the excitement of the race. And as I was thinking of all of the years of preparation for this important event and all of the races that led up to it… I felt anxious too. I wanted the best for Rich and his family and friends, and I knew this was going to be the most challenging of all of the races that he’d sailed. I would follow him with my students as I promised I would. We had followed the NY to Melbourne race in 2001, the race from Hong Kong to NY in 2003, the Transat 2004 and the small qualifying races. Some of my students had been on the GAIII, for a quick tour a year before the race. All of them either followed Rich in a race or had siblings who had followed him. He had spoken at the sixth grade graduation in 2001. (Wow, those students must be young adults in the workforce now!) I knew that the days ahead were going to be difficult ones for Rich, but I had no idea what ‘difficult’ meant. This book reminds me of his many days at sea. It reminds me of how much we learned from Rich in his website where he shared daily reports from sea. We prayed for his safety and wished him the best each day. We knew he wanted to complete the race, no matter how long it took, and we wanted that to see that happen.
I’m going to share the link to the book with all of the sixth graders who were cheering him on in 2008, offering him suggestions on the safest routes. He does a beautiful job of retelling his story simply and sincerely. He writes from his heart and shares his insights into experiences that we can only imagine.
I am going to read passages of the book to the students. I want them to know that kids in the school who graduated just a few years before them, participated in a historical voyage in maritime history. Only two Americans have ever successfully completed the Vendee Globe and we are very proud to know one of them.
Thank you Rich, for sharing your story with us. I read it once, but I’m sure I will read passages of it again and again. I recommend this book to anyone– child or adult– who is inspired to find the meaning of passion and perseverance in their lives.

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/article/1505/the-great-american-rich-wilson-wants-to-be-back-in-2016.html