Atlantic Crossing summary - 11th Hour Racing Team Lands in Newport
by 11th Hour Racing 18 Aug 2020 09:35 BST
August 2020 Training Delivery from Concarneau, France to Newport, Rhode Island © Amory Ross / 11th Hour Racing
It took longer than expected (and the stash of M&Ms was running dangerously low...) but after 13 days at sea the delivery crew brought 11th Hour Racing Team's IMOCA 60 to Newport, RI last Friday after a successful Atlantic crossing from Concarneau, France. It's great to be back in the USA, and in the hometown of our sponsor 11th Hour Racing. Mother Nature threw everything at the team as they sailed across the North Atlantic.
The team contributed to two onboard scientific experiments during this crossing. Onboard they had a water sampling device called an OceanPack, which samples seawater to measure CO2 levels, sea surface temperature and salinity. All the data is sent back to The Ocean Race headquarters in Alicante, Spain, for the different scientific projects the Race is working on.
And while passing over the Newfoundland Grand Banks the crew deployed an NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather drifter buoy. The data will be used for the Atlantic and European weather models used by mariners, and informs scientists on the effects of climate change on ocean health, measuring sea surface temperature and barometric pressure.
To read more about the crossing check out onboard reporter, Amory Ross' blogs about how he felt he had done ten rounds with Mohammed Ali in the first few days and the experience of encountering this Ocean Sunfish, aka Mola Mola - 'a modern-day dinosaur' was how Amory described it.
The sailors are taking time for some much-needed R+R before reconvening next month to kick off the sailing program out of Narragansett Bay. It's going to be a busy fall for the team as we look forward to meeting with 11th Hour Racing grantees and participating in The Ocean Race Summit - Newport on September 16th.