THE OCEAN RACE

BY STEVEN CHAN ALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY LUCKI SCHOTZ (excluding ariels)

In May, thousands of visitors arrived at Fort Adams State Park by bicycle, automobile, and watercraft to experience the official opening of The Ocean Race at the host city of Newport, Rhode Island. The race village, monikered Ocean Live Park, kicked off the nine-day festival with a parade, music, entertainment, and a warm welcome to guests from all over the globe.

The Ocean Race, Newport’s familyfriendly festival and the only stopover in North America brought a message to the State of Rhode Island: to educate and inspire ocean health for today and future generations.

With this eighth edition of the circumnavigation race to visit American shores, we witnessed the first time an American crew won a leg of the race into the US; it happened Wednesday, May 10, when Rhode Island skipper Charlie Enright led his Newport-based 11th Hour Racing Team across the finish line in first place.

The Ocean Race, Newport’s familyfriendly festival and the only stopover in North America brought a message to the State of Rhode Island: to educate and inspire ocean health for today and future generations.

The Opening Ceremony included a parade led by youth sailors from Sail Newport’s programs carrying the flags of the nations represented in the race, the Navy Band played the national anthem, and the Newport Artillery Company fired a five-gun salute.

Ocean Live Park, the race village cel- ebrating The Ocean Race, Newport, is as much about the sailors and the boats in the circumnavigation race as it is an educational experience for schoolchildren. The International event promotes ocean literacy and marine stewardship through science, English, math, and art with kindergarten to high school learning programs. With Sail Newport’s assistance, The Ocean Race curriculum has been taught to more than 60 teachers at 20 schools and eight outdoor education facilities across Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

On Sunday, May 21, The Ocean Race, 11th Hour Racing Team, departed its hometown of Newport and set off on Leg 5. The team sailed their 60-foot IMOCA race boat 3,500 nautical miles [4,028 miles or 6,482 kilometers] across the Atlantic to Scotland and finished in Aarhus, Denmark.

At press time, the 11th Hour Racing Team battles towards Genova, Italy, for the Grand Finale; the expected arrival time is estimated on June 25, with the last In-Port Race held on July 1, 2023. H