KINGSTON, R.I. – October 23, 2023 – Ocean Race winning 11-hour team captain Charlie Enright speaks at university about his “six months at sea” and what he has discovered about ocean health. To do.Rhode Island, Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m.
This event is the URI Graduate School of Oceanography’s annual Charles and Marie Fish Lecture, held in Edwards Hall on URI’s Kingston campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Enright has circumnavigated the world three times and is the first American captain to lead a U.S. team to victory and hoist the iconic trophy in the ocean race’s 50-year history. Enright and his 11-hour racing team overcame many challenges over a six-month period, sailing seven legs, visiting four continents, and covering 32,000 nautical miles as they raced around the world. .
![](https://www.uri.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/news/sites/16/2023/10/Fish_16-by-9-for-SM2-1-1024x576.jpg)
Enright is a Rhode Islander from Bristol. Raised in a family of shipbuilders, he also competed in the Volvo Ocean Race and appeared in a documentary about his sailing. Morning light. Enright’s goal as team skipper for 11th Hour Racing is to use the platform of being a winner of his Ocean Race to educate fans about today’s environmental issues and benefit ocean health and the planet. It’s about encouraging them to do their part. The team has put sustainability at the heart of everything they do to demonstrate the climate crisis, ocean health and sustainability to sailing fans around the world.
“We’ve been to some of the most remote places in the world,” he says. “Seeing evidence of human impact in unexpected places is disconcerting to say the least.”
“As a green sailing team, we want to provide concrete solutions for the future and share about new innovations. 11th Hour is about real solutions to make a difference to local issues. We are trying to provide that.”
And he’s happy to take that message back to where he started sailing. “This is a valuable asset that we have,” he says. “At Rhode Island, the ocean is in our name. We have a responsibility to preserve this resource that is so important to our daily lives here and to our lives no matter where we live. ”
Trophy and lecture in Rhode Island
As the ultimate champions of the Ocean Race, the 11th Hour team took the iconic trophy home to Rhode Island, USA for the first time in history.
At URI, Enright will share first-hand observations about the health of the ocean planet, and will be joined by Victoria Fulfer and Martha McConnell from the School of Oceanography, as well as a global micro-project conducted in collaboration with Ocean Race. Discuss plastic research.
Victoria Fulfer is a Ph.D. She is a URI GSO candidate. Her research there focuses on marine microplastic pollution around the world, from Narragansett Bay to Vietnam. In the spring, Fulfer worked with Ocean Her Race to analyze plastic in the ocean’s surface while the team collected race samples around the world. Learn more about Furfur’s research during the Ocean Race here and watch our video interview.
Martha McConnell is an associate professor in the School of Oceanography. McConnell has participated in her four Antarctic expeditions, served as a representative on the Arctic Council, and was a visiting professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. She directed research for the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2018 she co-chaired the Volvo Ocean Race Newport, one of her stopovers, and the Ocean Exploration Zone. She is a member of the Explorers Club.
McConnell said: “This is a great opportunity for the URI community to hear Charlie’s experience in high-performance sailing and learn about the health and sustainability of the world’s oceans. He has sailed around the world three times in this race and In the process, he brings a unique perspective as a leader in promoting sustainability in the global sailing and boating community for nearly a decade.”
11th Hour Racing is the title sponsor of the 11th Hour Racing team, active in the sporting, maritime and coastal communities to advance solutions and practices that protect and restore the health of our oceans. The organization was co-founded by philanthropist and ocean advocate Wendy Schmidt, who received her URI honorary degree in 2023 and is the first woman and first American to win the world’s largest sailing race in 2022. I did. Newport-based 11th Hour Racing is committed to raising awareness. About the importance of ocean health.
The Charles and Marie Fish Lecture is an annual public lecture endowed by the family of Dr. Charles and Marie Fish. Charles and Marie Fish. Fishes he established a marine biology program at the University of Rhode Island in 1935 and eventually a graduate program in oceanography at the Narragansett Marine Institute. This later he became URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Enright joins a distinguished roster of speakers for the series, including Jennifer Francis of the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Robert Ballard Professor of Oceanography. Christopher Landsee, National Hurricane Center.Author Paul Greenberg american catch; Rod Sahm, The Nature Conservancy;Blaine Harden new york times; Kathryn Sullivan, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Chief Scientist and former astronaut.charles alexander time magazine; and Sir Crispin Tickell of the United Nations.
More information and free tickets are available online.