11th Hour Racing Team sails towards Cascais with the Relay4Nature baton
The baton has started its journey in The Ocean Race Europe
The Relay4Nature baton arrived in Lorient, France, in the hands of Team Childhood 1 for the start of The Ocean Race Europe. As the international teams assembled for the start of a fast and tightly matched first leg to Cascais, the baton was passed from Arriane Van de Loosdrecht to Justine Mettraux, co-skipper of the 11th Hour Racing Team.
“This project, Relay4Nature, is a good move. We need to raise awareness for more marine protected areas, so that marine life is able to recover and rebuild. As we all know, the ocean has been severely damaged these last few decades.” Justine commented as she was handed the baton.
Co-skipper Charlie Enright, an American sailor who has already competed in two editions of the round-the-world race, weighed in on the team's commitment to racing sustainably: “Sustainability touches every aspect of our campaign. We have an onboard science programme, which is a great way to directly contribute to research and information surrounding climate change. We have an ocean pack race system onboard, which measures salinity, CO2, and sea surface temperature. That information goes back to climate scientists so that we can directly contribute information towards the problems that the ocean is facing.
"Our personal action as the 11th Hour Racing Team is signing up for the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) climate action framework, and we hope that all the other teams will sign up as well.”
On the 28 May, the eve of the race start, both the VO65 and IMOCA 60 class took to the water for a shakedown coastal race. Faced with light, changeable winds and high temperatures, the Austrian Ocean Race Project came out in front in the VO65 class, with Linkedout stealing first place in the IMOCA 60 class.
“I’m really really happy with the team effort, everyone was pushing hard for this really nice result.” Said Gerwin Jansen, skipper of The Austrian Ocean Race Project. “We kept calm. It’s not easy to do a race in light wind, sometimes you’re gaining and sometimes you’re losing.”
The teams slipped lines this morning for the start of The Ocean Race Europe, ready to make the journey across the notorious Bay of Biscay and further south towards Portugal. 11th Hour Racing Team will carry the Relay4Nature baton for the first leg of the race, racing for stronger policy and protection for the ocean.