Going back to grassroots
11th Hour Racing’s pro-sailing ambassadors are partnering with a variety of marine conservation groups… and already with impressive results
‘Think global, act local’ is the simple philosophy that underpins many effective campaigns. And it’s at the heart of one of 11th Hour Racing’s recent initiatives, which funds collaborative projects between its own high-profile ambassadors – top- level marine industry professionals who care deeply about ocean health – and grassroots marine conservation groups.
Last year, 11th Hour Racing’s ambassadors were all tasked with finding a grassroots organisation that deserved a $10,000 grant and working with them on a worthwhile project. ‘They encouraged us – in a good way – to go out and find new grantees to work with,’ says Tom Burnham, pro sailor and coach. ‘We weren’t allowed to just go back to the same old well.’ 11th Hour Racing’s grant programme director, Michelle Carnevale, put Burnham in touch with the Youth Sailing Foundation (YSF) of Indian River County in Florida. ‘It was a perfect fit,’ he says. ‘One of their founders is George Hinman, the America’s Cup sailor, past commodore of the New York Yacht Club and an old family friend
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of mine. If he was involved, I knew they had to be doing great things.’ Indeed they were. The Indian River Lagoon, a 150-mile long waterway that runs alongside the Atlantic coast of Florida, is one of the most biodiverse estuaries in the northern hemisphere with more than 4,300 species of plants and animals. By not only teaching local children the importance of looking after it, but also giving them regular opportunities to enjoy it, YSF is creating a new generation of local environmental stewards.
‘It’s so much more than a sailing centre,’ Burnham explains. ‘As well as giving under-served children free sailing lessons and teaching them about ecology and sustainability, they’re restoring the mangroves of the Indian River, using shells to build barrier reefs to protect them from erosion caused by powerboat wakes.’ Further down the Florida coast, another 11th Hour Racing ambassador has also been helping to restore mangroves. ‘I’m involved with a local group called Debris Free Oceans here in Miami,’ says US Olympic 49er helm Stephanie Roble. ‘People think of mangroves as this
Above: Pro sailor and coach Tom Burnham is working with The
Youth Sailing Foundation (YSF) to build natural break- waters out of shells to protect and help restore mangroves in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida. The YSF
kids transport the shells out to the reefs in their Optimist dinghies before start- ing work, all supervised by ORCA scientists
beautiful pristine environment but once you get in them, you realise there is just so much trash there: bits of styrofoam, straws, bottle caps… we need to raise awareness that there is a problem.’
A growing awareness of plastic pollution led Roble to become an 11th Hour Racing ambassador. ‘About five years ago I was doing a lot of professional sailing in small keelboats and I noticed that almost everywhere we raced there was plastic pollution and I began to realise what a big problem this is,’ she explains. ‘I grew up sailing on a beautiful small lake in Wisconsin, which doesn’t have any pollution; I wish all places could be like that. As I spent more time sailing on the ocean, it became obvious to me that the problem is huge and I need to do my part.’
Meanwhile, on the Gulf Coast of Texas, 11th Hour Racing ambassador Elizabeth Kratzig is focused on a specific type of plastic pollution: nurdles. These tiny pellets are the raw materials used to make nearly all plastic products. Billions of them escape due to sloppy methods at manufacturing sites and during
YOUTH SAILING FOUNDATION
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