Ocean Race: Hong Kong tragedy a learning experience for 11th Hour Racing, says co-skipper Enright; looks forward to next edition
- 11th Hour Racing is one of a handful of teams who have committed to the next edition of the Ocean Race
- Apart from racing, the boat will be collecting data on the health of the world’s oceans
The co-skipper of the boat involved in a fatal accident off Hong Kong waters in January 2018 said he hoped they could learn from the tragedy to ensure it never happened again.
American entry 11th Hour Racing was involved in a collision with a mainland fishing vessel about 30 nautical miles from the finish line of leg four of the 2017-18 Ocean Race from Melbourne to Hong Kong. The crew helped pull one man on to his damaged boat but he died hours later after being airlifted to hospital.
Nine other fishermen were rescued by a nearby commercial vessel. Co-skipper Charlie Enright was not on board the boat at the time because he had taken time off to attend some personal issues but said the incident affected the whole team.
“On a personal level it’s probably unfair to say we’re trying to move on,” said Enright, from Brittany in France. “It’s more about learning from the experience and being respectful of the past to focus on the future, if that makes sense.
“It’s kind of not certain at this stage if the race is going to go back to that part of the world. I think we’re pretty agnostic [about returning to Hong Kong], we did enjoy the time we were able to spend there, under the circumstances.
