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Go Around Again: The story of circumnavigator Rich Wilson

Sailing around the world in a 60-foot boat, alone, without stopping and without assistance. That's the Vendee Globe, a yacht race that begins and finishes in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. In 2008, Rich Wilson competed in this race along with 29 other skippers. The only American in the fleet and the oldest, he placed ninth out of the 11 who finished. It was a tough experience -- one characterized by injury, extreme fatigue, and a weird, 18-hour hallucination. In this one-on-one conversation, Rich recounts his experiences during this voyage and previous voyages (including a harrowing rescue from a capsized boat off Cape Horn) and discusses his plan to race in the next Vendee Globe. He also talks about the motivation for his voyages, which is to create online learning adventures for middle-school students around the world. Rich's boat, Great American IV, is managed and fitted out by Brian Harris and his team at Maine Yacht Center in Portland, Maine. "Go Around Again" is directed by Rick Groleau, a Boston-based multimedia producer from Livermore Falls, Maine.

  • Rick Groleau
    Director
    Despair and the Salt Air, New England Surfing Excursion
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Education, sport, sailing
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 42 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    58 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    DSLR
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Emerge Film Festival
    Lewiston, Maine
    April 11, 2015
    World Premiere
    Nominated, Best Maine Film
  • Sanford International Film Festival
    Sanford, Maine
    May 30, 2015
    Winner, Best Maine Film; Nominated, Best Documentary
  • Maine Outdoor Film Festival
    The Forks / Portland
    August 15, 2015
    Nominated, Best Short [award tbd]
Director Biography - Rick Groleau

Rick Groleau is a multimedia producer who has spent most of his career at WGBH (Bostons' public television station) and at Harvard University. At WGBH, he worked as a writer, web producer, project manager, and editor (of content, not film or video). He has written, storyboarded, and produced over 100 Flash and Shockwave interactive features for Nova, the American Experience, This Old House, and Mystery. At Harvard, Rick was manager of web communications for the Wyss Institute before moving to Harvard Medical School, where he is a senior multimedia producer. In 2012, the Wyss Institute's website, which was designed and developed under Rick's direction, was the winner of the Webby Award in the category of Science.

Although Rick studied film and television production at Emerson College in the 1980s, it wasn't until about six years ago that he began to work, intermittently, on video production. He submitted his first video to a film festival in 2013. The film, a short called New England Surfing Excursion, which is about a father and son who surf 10 beaches in four states in five days -- was an official selection of the Maine Outdoor Film Festival. Since then, two other films have been shown at five festivals and one of these was selected "Best Maine Film" at the Sanford International Film Festival.

Web-related projects that Rick has been involoved with have received following recognition: Webby Award winner in Science category (Wyss Institute, 2012); Webby Award finalist in Education category (NOVA Online, 2001); Webby Award finalist in Education category (A Science Odyssey, 2000); Webby Award Honoree (Children's Research website, 2006); Peabody Award (NOVA Online's Elegant Universe -- program and website -- 2003); 32 USA Today Hot Picks.

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