GREENER RIDES

11th Hour Racing's MarineShift360 gives owners and builders a powerful new tool to create more-sustainable boats.

- David Schmidt

ON March 11, skipper Charlie Enright and his 11th Hour Racing Team sailed a staggering 586.36 nautical miles in a 24-hour push aboard their IMOCA 60 Malama. The team was in the wind-swept depths of the Southern Ocean, west of Australia's Cape Leeuwin, en route from Cape Town, South Africa. It was headed to Itajaí, Brazil, on The Ocean Race's mammoth 12,750-nautical-mile Leg Three, and conditions were perfect. In fact, the team temporarily owned the unofficial 24-hour world record for a crewed IMOCA 60, but its pace was bettered some 24 hours later by skipper Kevin Escoffier and his HOLCIM-PRB team (it's now 595.26 nautical miles). § Records aside, there's a difference between these two monohulls that's far more important: impact quantification. It will affect far more than speed across a few nautical miles. § It has the potential to change the future of sailing, and that of humanity.

The 11th Hour Racing Team's website summarizes the team's goals for this year's race: "The only thing more important than winning is leaving a positive impact." Achieving that goal began with Malama's design and build process, the latter of which took place at CDK Technologies in Port La Forêt, France. The team worked alongside the global-sustainability firm Anthesis Group to optimize the MarineShift360 life-cycle assessment tool. It's specific to the marine industry, and it can model carbon footprints, water-consumption requirements, and greenhouse gas emissions for different design and build options.