Maud Helfgott - polaRYSE / 11th Hour Racing
Since the Route du Rhum race village opened, the purpose team has been busy sharing the concept of belonging to Saint-Malo with a flurry of purpose activations.
Our French Purpose Program facilitator, Virginie Caron, brought together groups from education, social services, disability communities, sailing, and the wider maritime industry to learn about our team’s Believe, Belong, Achieve programs.
Boat tours
We welcomed nine groups onboard our 60-foot IMOCA, 11th Hour Racing, which will soon sail from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe in the Route du Rhum, which starts November 1. Visitors got to explore the boat, ask questions, and hear how the team is working towards making sailing more inclusive.
Our guests included:
La mer est à vous, a free six-month program introducing job seekers and school dropouts to maritime careers
Sailing instructors from the Société Nautique de la Baie de Saint-Malo
Fonds de dotation Cascade and La Passerelle
Signesens, with a tour led in sign language by the founder Laëtitia Sanquer, an 11th Hour Racing ambassador who works to make sure people who are deaf or hard of hearing are included in the sailing world
Elles prennent le large, a program for young women from rural areas
Galileo Global Education Rennes, Master in Sport Business
NGO Le Goeland, which supports families and people in precarious situations
CDAS of Combourg, the departmental social services center
NGO Menez Roz, which takes women in remission from cancer on trips to the mountains.
Maud Helfgott - polaRYSE / 11th Hour Racing
Believe, Belong, Achieve workshop
We also ran a morning Believe, Belong, Achieve workshop with Bretagne Next, the IMOCA Class, Team Actual, and Use it Again - Spring One. It introduced them to our three purpose programs: the Believe, Belong, Achieve (BBA) workshops, the Sailing Instructor Program, and the BBA Internship.
Roundtables
We hosted two roundtables to raise awareness of our Believe, Belong, Achieve campaign and to demonstrate how inclusion can drive performance, including in the boating industry.
By numbers
Nine boat tour groups
Two roundtables
One BBA workshop with sailing and industry partners
150 people engaged with
As Francesca lines up for the start of the Route du Rhum on Sunday, we are proud that the race village has been about more than racing and performance. It has been about opening the door to people who might not have felt sailing was for them.
