A world-class race makes research part of the deal.
As sustainability infiltrates professional sports, one event is taking the lead: the Ocean Race — a triennial, 60,000-km sailing race that this year took place between January and late June. Circumnavigating the world from Alicante, Spain, through the Southern Ocean, to Genoa, Italy, the race incorporates ecological practices and education into every facet of its operations.
These efforts occur both on and off the water, thanks to a sweeping sustainability action plan that prioritizes ocean and climate health, resource and carbon reduction, and environmental impact. All five race teams are engaged in this effort. Each sixty-foot IMOCA class boat is built as a scientific research vessel that collects data from seawater and climate measurements as they race. The eight host cities, where the boats stop for a week or so as they hopscotch around the globe, are equally devoted. Each city hosts a race village, called Ocean Live Park, that is the center of race activity, and which raises awareness and encourages action on issues affecting ocean health. People can visit these race villages and learn about a range of environmental initiatives.
“Nature means everything to us,” says Lucy Hunt, The Ocean Race’s Senior Advisor for Summits and Learning, “so we want to try and protect it. Sailors are seeing the decline first hand … through the decline of the health of the ocean because they’re seeing more plastic or experiencing extreme weather events or seeing less animals. Our overarching goal is to try and accelerate the protection and restoration of ocean health.”
To foster that mission, the boats use a desalinator for drinking and cooking water, and are fitted with solar panels and hydro generators that harness electricity from the sun and seawater to power electronics and lights. The teams contribute to research on ocean health by measuring climatic and sea data (including dissolved carbon, water temperature, and barometric pressure), and by taking a microscopic look at plankton. The data is dispatched to scientists around the world to help determine weather patterns, the impacts of climate change, and much more.
“Seafarers are the eyes and ears of the scientific community,” says Damian Foxall, Ocean Race veteran and 11th Hour Racing sustainability program manager, “so by sharing observations with the relevant organizations, we can build a better understanding of ocean life and use this knowledge to inform, adapt, and revise the way we interact with the ocean and all that exists in it.”
Biotherm arriving to Genova, Italy. — Photo courtesy of Anne Beauge / Biotherm / The Ocean Race
Two teams also collect and filter sea water via an onboard sampling unit in order to collect and measure microplastics. Early analysis from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, in partnership with the University of Rhode Island (URI), indicates microplastic concentrations as high as 1,884 particles per cubic meter of sea water in some locations, which is eighteen times higher than in samples collected the last time the race was run.
“The problem has become pervasive, and sampling efforts like [these] are vital to help us understand the extent of microplastic pollution in the ocean,” says Victoria Fulfer, visiting scientist from URI at the National Oceanography Centre. “The samples collected by teams are unique because they cover a large spatial range in a short amount of time, giving scientists a sort of snapshot of the state of microplastic pollution in the global ocean for 2023.”
Host cities are committed to educating people who visit race villages too, inspiring them to carry on sustainable behavior in their daily lives. Visitors are encouraged to take low-impact modes of transport to the villages, including biking and walking, and to take reusable water bottles. In the villages themselves, single-use plastics (water bottles, straws, utensils) are banned, and water-filling stations and compostable plates and utensils reduce trash. Recycling and composting stations teach visitors to properly sort their waste in order to reduce their impact on landfills, while exhibits teach visitors about the negative impact of waste on ocean habitats and marine life.
Sailors are seeing the decline first hand … through the decline of the health of the ocean because they’re seeing more plastic or experiencing extreme weather events or seeing less animals,” says Lucy Hunt, The Ocean Race Senior Advisor for Summits and Learning. “Our overarching goal is to try and accelerate the protection and restoration of ocean health.”
“When it comes to renewable energy,” Lucy Hunt says, “our race headquarters [in Alicante, Spain] is 100 percent renewable, for example, and we are looking to have a reduction in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by seventy-five percent in this [year’s] Ocean Race… We ask all our host cities and stakeholders to commit to that. We ask our partners to measure greenhouse gas emissions as well. We are looking to be a climate positive race, so we draw down as much or more greenhouse gas than we emit.”
The Ocean Race Summits, a series of high-level conferences held at five stopovers, foster expert-driven discussions and present scalable solutions for ocean health and restoration, Hunt adds, including youth involvement, sports, and technologies centered on ocean restoration.
“It’s a great platform to announce a commitment, to support the ocean rights movement and policy, or to announce a new renewable energy or action happening in a city,” she says. “When we talk about ocean health and use [the race] as a platform for ocean health, change, and acceleration, it helps inspire so many people.”
Targeting youth, The Ocean Race has developed learning programs in eleven languages that include sharable resources in STEAM projects and social emotional learning techniques — all with the goal of empowering six- to 16-year-olds to take positive action for the ocean. As classes complete activities, they register their progress and lobby for a virtual visit from a sailor.
Organizers of The Ocean Race are working towards presenting a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights to the United Nations in September, which urges recognition of the inherent rights of the ocean, and builds respect for the ocean as an entity in itself — like giving it personhood.
For teams of older students, a competition fosters activism. In Rhode Island, for example, students in The Ocean Race’s Generation Ocean project campaigned for legislation that would reduce plastic litter and microplastic pollution, increase recycling, and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, and met with their state representatives to advocate for its passage. The winning team earned a trip to the Arhus, Denmark, stopover to present their project at The Ocean Race Summit and experience the sustainability efforts there. Hunt discussed the science on board the boats with the students, creating the analogy of the race boat as a planet.
“You go out to sea and only have a few resources, so it’s a good way to explain [to students] that you have to be mindful of what you’re using and not be wasteful,” Hunt says.
From teaching the next generation to lobbying for the future of the oceans, Ocean Race organizers are spreading their message far and wide. They are also working towards presenting a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights to the United Nations in September, which, Hunt explains, would engage countries in this movement, urge recognition of the inherent rights of the ocean, and build respect for the ocean as an entity in itself — like giving it personhood. The public can even sign the One Blue Voice petition.
The Ocean Race provides a blueprint for running sustainable world-class sporting events, said Todd McGuire, Managing Director of event partner 11th Hour Racing. “The ocean has taken the brunt of human-impacted climate change, and by working with The Ocean Race to develop the Racing with Purpose program, we believe we have developed one of the most robust sustainability programs of any sporting event on the planet. But if only The Ocean Race did this, it would not have the global impact we strive for, which is why The Ocean Race publishes the documents and resources on its website so all sporting events, large and small, can implement similar programs.”
