‘Absolutely ecstatic’ – 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright reacts to Ocean Race victory after redress hearing

11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright expressed his delight after claiming a US team’s first victory in The Ocean Race 2022-23.

The final leg of the race finished in Genova, Italy on Tuesday with Team Holcim-PRB leading the way – one point clear of 11th Hour.

Holcim-PRB’s protest against 11th Hour was deemed invalid, and the outcome of Thursday’s redress hearing saw the latter awarded four points and took Enright’s team top of the overall race leaderboard.

Speaking after the decision, Enright said: “I’m absolutely ecstatic. This race takes everything out of you – emotionally, mentally, and physically.

“I’m incredibly proud of our whole team who have worked tirelessly for three years to get to this point. There have been highs, some incredible highs, but also lows that have knocked us all, but they were all worth it to hear this news today.

“When we launched our campaign in 2019, we never could have anticipated that it would finish in this way. Any sailor will tell you that they want to win races on the water and not in the jury room, and after winning three legs back-to-back we felt exceptionally strong and confident going into the final leg.

“We are pleased with the jury’s decision, although we wish we had had the chance to battle it out for this final leg on the water as Holcim-PRB have been exceptional competitors and pushed us all the way.

“To be the first US team to be lifting this trophy is an exceptional honour, and to be sharing the message and showcasing action and innovation for ocean health has made this a truly impactful, global campaign. It’s not the way I would have drawn this up, but the victory is sweet all the same.”

Natasha Gonzalez spoke with The Ocean Race 2022-23 race director Phil Lawrence after the redress hearing, and explained the jury’s reasoning behind the decision.

He said: “The jury met this morning to consider two matters. The first one was a protest between Holcim-PRB and 11th Hour relating to a collision at the start of Leg 7. The jury considered that and deemed it was an invalid protest, so it was dismissed.

“The second matter was to consider a request for redress from 11th Hour and from the other teams as well. And the result of that hearing was 11th Hour was awarded for redress of average points for the legs sailed to date, that gave them the points for second place in the last leg. In which case they are now the overall winners of The Ocean race 2022-23.

“So the results of Leg 7 haven’t changed who is first, second and third, and those teams remain in those positions. But 11th Hour get the points as if they’d been second, and those are enough points to put them into a winning position.”

There will certainly be contrasting emotions from Holcim-PRB skipper Benjamin Schwartz, who saw his side finish Leg 7 in third behind Team Malizia and Biotherm despite leading for much of the way.

They faced a nervous wait to find out whether their position at the top of the leaderboard would be final, but that third-place finish and has now proved to be very costly.

“I don’t know if they are going to be granted redress or not. But if they get granted, they deserve it and that’s part of racing. There are rules.

“If you have an incident and it’s proven that you should get redress then we would accept the result for sure and 11th Hour Racing Team will make a great winner of the race. And if not, we’ll see what happens.

“In the past I have benefited from a redress situation, my Solitaire in 2019 for example, so I have no problem with that.”

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