We won the Race for the Ocean award!
Team Francesca Clapcich at The Ocean Race Awards Night
Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing has taken victory in the Race for the Ocean Team Challenge for The Ocean Race Atlantic! The team finished second on the water in the inaugural edition of the race, but off the water, our impact took the top spot.
The award was presented at the Awards Night in Lorient, France where our team members went on stage to receive the trophy, crafted from recycled ocean plastic, and cheer to the tune of Pink Pony Club (what’s become our team anthem!).
Winning this award means a great deal to our whole team because it reflects who we are beyond the performance on the water. Our purpose work goes hand in hand with how much effort, time, and team work is put into the races.
What is the Racing for the Ocean Teams Challenge?
The Racing for the Ocean Teams Challenge was created in collaboration with IMOCA and with the support of 11th Hour Racing, the Impact Partner of The Ocean Race Atlantic. The challenge is designed to measure the six teams across 30 sustainability criteria spanning operations, science, education, sustainable boat building, climate impact, and advocacy.
This was the second year of the challenge, following its debut at The Ocean Race Europe 2025, and this year's edition raised the bar with new individual accolades recognizing the team with the smallest carbon footprint, ocean science communications, access and equity, and standout contributions from individual team members. Not only were we recognized as the overall winner - a reflection of the work our entire team puts in every single day, on land and at sea - we were also the joint winners of the access and equity award, alongside Team Malizia.
Thank you to our dedicated team
Equity and diversity in thought are values we hold close, and we try to live them through our purpose initiatives. Our Believe, Belong, Achieve workshops, our Sailor Instructor Program, and our Believe, Belong, Achieve Internship Program, which brought on our first cohort of interns from Rocking the Boat during the Changemakers Tour, are all designed to open doors in this sport for people who have not always had access to it.
Maud Helfgott - polaRYSE / 11th Hour Racing
We also want to recognize Louise Kergomard, our logistics and circularity manager, whose work is a huge part of why our team can meet its sustainability goals at all. She shows up to this mission in so many ways: meticulously managing travel logistics to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible, overseeing all the waste we produce in our team shed to ensure it is recycled effectively where possible, providing reusable food containers to reduce our plastic waste, centralizing our meals with other teams to minimize food waste, arranging accommodation that keeps team members a walkable distance from work sites to avoid using cars or taxis, and identifying local organizations for food donation while we travel.
This win is a moment to be proud of for the whole team, but it is certainly not the finish line.
We hope to keep growing as a team that values the communities we connect with along the way and the ocean, not just as a place we race, but as something essential to human life, and to the future of our planet. The work continues and to follow more of our journey in fighting for the ocean, check out more of our ocean health initiatives here.
