Dear Friend of CHARIAD:

This season was quite a roller coaster for the CHARIAD team.

The boat was seriously damaged July 4th and out of the water for the rest of the month. We came back and won the Storm Trysail Ted Hood Regatta in Marblehead going away. This was the most competitive regatta in which we have participated for several years.

In the background, I appealed the decision by the Eastern Yacht Club protest committee that CHARIAD was partially at fault when the EYC former commodore suddenly turned into us at such close quarters that we could not get out of their way. A video of the collision has been viewed by about 1,000 people. The appeal went to the top of US Sailing with Dave Perry trying to explain why they would not overrule the obvious errors and EYC conflicts of interest.

The CHARIAD team is celebrating their victory at the Hood regatta. This picture was included in my widely distributed blog post on success of an organization coming from the team and not just the leader.

This Friday, we are gathering for the annual CHARIAD Crew Dinner at the Boston Yacht Club. Catching up, stories from the season and laughs are on the agenda.

Rick Williams at helm with CHARIAD friends for social sail

Rich Wilson – Special Person in our World

Rich Wilson has been a special friend for many years. Rich has twice completed the Vendee Globe Race from France around the world and back to Les Sables d’Olonne, France. Sailing alone in a 60 boat against the best long distance racers in the world. Take a moment over the weekend to read the Sailing World profile of Rich — what he has accomplished and who he is. I believe the picture on the front was taken on the porch of the BYC.

Rich has serious asthma and part of what has motivated his high level competition is to demonstrate that everyone can compete whatever their handicaps. Thousands of students all over the world shared Rich’s experiences and what he saw sailing across the vast and ever changing oceans. So here is a story about Rich and about my being clueless. Rich now holds the record for sailing from Boston to San Francisco on his trimaran Great America. The first time he tried to break the record, the boat flipped over going down the front of a 60 foot wave 500 miles west of Chile. Rich was rescued in the middle of the night by a New Zealand freighter.

When Rich got back to the states, he came to my place in Cambridge to tell his story to the crew on Voyager – my sailboat before CHARIAD. While Rich is sitting in the living room describing what it is like to sail a 50 foot boat in a hurricane, my cat was demanding Rich’s complete attention. Instead of freaking out and running out the door, Rich excused himself to go out to his car and get some meds so he could continue his story.

We are fortunate to have Rich in our lives to help us see the potential in each of us.

I hope you are well. Let me know how you are doing.

My best,

Rick