Racing Around the World for the Oceans

11th Hour Racing was established to use the power of sport to restore the balance between people and the planet so we can effect systemic change across sailing and sports communities to benefit the ocean.

This photo essay was curated by Amory Ross.

My parents grew up sailing, but life eventually took them away from the coast, so for me growing up, I only knew the vastness of the ocean through the photos on the walls and magazines on the table. But that was enough to capture my imagination…I spent the rest of my childhood wanting to see it for myself.

That gradually started happening out of sheer determination. What I found was exactly what I wanted—my life’s passion. But I also found something that I knew none of my friends knew: sailing was a sport, and the ocean was more beautiful than you could ever imagine. So, I started combining sailing with storytelling in an effort to show them. Here I am now, at 38, still sailing around the world and telling the story—for the fourth time. This time, I’m a member of the 11th Hour Racing Team on board an IMOCA 60 in The Ocean Race.

I sincerely hope some of these photos from my ocean racing adventures will inspire you to get out and explore our beautiful blue planet. However, since 11th Hour Racing was established to use the power of sport to restore the balance between people and the planet so we can effect systemic change across sailing and sports communities to benefit the ocean, I also hope these images will inspire you to help conserve and protect our fragile blue planet as well. Find out more at www.11thhourracing.org

01 Starry Night

An around-the-world race gives you an incredible platform to tell a competitive story, but it’s also an amazing opportunity to share a bit about the world we live in, too. We get to visit places where humans don’t often go. We get to see things humans don’t often see. We get to experience remoteness and isolation in ways that only astronauts could understand. In fact, there is a waypoint along our journey through the South Pacific named Point Nemo, where you are closer to the International Space Station than you are to any point of land. It is also known as the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility. The night sky is unpolluted and the sky has a distinct dome-like feel, as if you are inside a snow globe!

02 Dolphins

When we first started sailing in France, it was before the Covid pandemic and while dolphins were around, it was uncommon to see them. Fast forward a few years–and with a global decline in commercial traffic and a decrease in fishing activity–the dolphins that were at once a rarity became daily in their interactions. The common dolphin made a huge rebound in the Bay of Biscay with less risk of bycatch, less noise and sea pollution, and greater awareness. They are everywhere now, and it seemed like we would have pods come by to say hi each time we left the dock.

03 Foil Flight

Drones have become an essential part of the offshore tool bag. The sensation of flight is hard to feel on board; it’s really noisy, really violent, and the senses are a bit lost with such a limited understanding for what is happening outside the cockpit walls. Drones, on the other hand, can give you a surprisingly different perspective of what you and the boat are actually doing…for what the sails actually look like. It is obviously an exciting way to capture content, but we have come to appreciate its performance benefits, too–checking sail trim and boat setup as if we had a coach in a helicopter with us at all times!

04 Bucking Bronco

Reefing the mainsail presents one of the few times someone will leave the cockpit without having to slow down. All of the front sails are on roller furlers, so most of the work is done from the cockpit; you just have to go forward and coil them into their bag, but for those sail changes we tend to throttle back because of the inherent speeds and risk of exposure. When reefing the main though (the process of decreasing our mainsail area), it’s usually done at high speed because you are farther back from the bow and somewhat protected by the mast and sail. Upon exiting the cockpit, you clip your lifejacket/harness into the jacklines and then tie the mainsail in a neat bundle so as not to collect and hold water. All in all, it’s a few minutes outside, but you’re usually battling the bronco the whole time!

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