11th Hour Racing

Background

11th Hour Racing was established in 2010 by Wendy Schmidt and professional sailors Rob MacMillan and Jeremy Pochman. The group claims to promote environmental practices through sailing and the maritime industry. ³ The organization has operated as a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation and supported grants, sponsorships, and an ambassador program involving professional sailors. ⁴ It later expanded into broader environmental grantmaking and climate-related programs. ^{6  7}

11th Hour Racing has developed a separate structure consisting of 11th Hour Racing, Inc., 11th Hour Racing Charitable, LLC, and 11th Hour Racing Action, LLC, which respectively oversee programmatic direction, charitable activities, and advocacy. ³

Advocacy

Environmentalist Policy

In 2022, 11th Hour Racing partnered with the left-of-center climate advocacy group Protect Our Winters (POW) to support projects involving climate advocacy, journalism, research, and public events. ⁸ In 2025, the group and Protect Our Winters expanded the partnership by establishing the POW Water Alliance, which organized athletes, scientists, artists, indigenous leaders, and others involved with water-related activities around climate advocacy. ² The organizations stated that the alliance would seek “measurable policy wins” involving weather-dependent energy and marine protection, and would use athletes and other public figures to influence culture and public policy. ²

11th Hour Racing also worked with The Ocean Race on its “Racing with Purpose” environmental program and helped organize the 2023 Ocean Race Summit in Newport, Rhode Island alongside Sail Newport and the State of Rhode Island. ⁹ The summit promoted the recognition of legal “rights of the ocean” and broader efforts to establish a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights by 2030, while speakers advocated environmentalist policies including carbon pricing, transportation electrification, and other government interventions. ⁹

11th Hour Racing has supported residential composting programs in Newport, Bristol, and Barrington, Rhode Island and claims that these programs were intended to reduce landfill waste and greenhouse-gas emissions. ¹⁰ In 2026, Waste Dive reported that subsidized curbside-composting pilot programs in the three municipalities were funded in part by 11th Hour Racing. ¹¹

An 11th Hour Racing-supported 2024 Rhode Island Food Policy Council (RIFPC) study claimed to evaluate municipal composting programs across Rhode Island, interviewed local government officials, and provided recommendations for expanding municipal composting. ¹² The group’s grant program also supported the RIFPC’s Wasted Food Solutions Action Plan, which called for greater state involvement in composting, stronger enforcement of Rhode Island’s food-waste requirements, and additional government spending on food-waste infrastructure. ¹³ The report discussed legislation promoted by RIFPC members that would impose a $2-per-ton surcharge on waste sent to landfills and transfer stations and place the revenue into a government “Compost Fund” supporting municipal and private composting programs, though who would be paying this surcharge was undisclosed. ¹³

Marine Industry, Sailing, and Other Sports

In 2024 and 2025, 11th Hour Racing partnered with the International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) on environmental rules governing boat construction and sail manufacturing, carbon-fiber recycling, alternative construction materials, and the appointment of “sustainability representatives” within sailboat-racing teams. ¹⁴ The partnership developed an “Impact Reduction Rule” intended to reduce emissions associated with boat construction and promoted additional standards intended to reduce the environmental effects of sail production. ¹⁴

Diversity and Equity in Sailing

Beginning in 2024, 11th Hour Racing expanded its advocacy beyond environmental issues to emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within professional sailing. The group became the founding sponsor of UpWind by MerConcept, which recruited and trained female sailors for professional offshore racing and required DEI training for participants. ¹⁵ The organization also sponsored professional sailor Francesca Clapcich and claimed the partnership was intended to promote “diversity, equity, and opportunity” and advance what it characterized as climate justice. ¹⁶

In 2025, 11th Hour Racing supported the Magenta Project’s “2×25” review of equity and inclusion in sailing and the marine industry. The study claimed to examine discrimination involving gender, race, age, and disability and sought recommendations for increasing representation within the industry. ¹⁷ The organization continued the project in 2026, when the Magenta Project and World Sailing released results claiming that approximately two-thirds of respondents had experienced or witnessed discrimination in sailing or the marine industry. ¹⁸

In December 2025, the organization was named the “Impact Partner” of The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 and announced support for the race’s new requirement that participating crews be gender-balanced, with two women and two men per team. ¹⁹ Chief executive officer Jeremy Pochman characterized the policy as an effort to establish greater equity and access for women in offshore racing. ¹⁹

2018 Ocean Race Collision

In January 2018, a racing boat operated by Vestas 11th Hour Racing, a professional sailing team jointly sponsored by wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems and 11th Hour Racing, collided with a fishing vessel approximately 30 miles from the finish of the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race near Hong Kong. ²⁰ The fishing vessel had ten crew members; nine were rescued, while another crew member was airlifted to a Hong Kong hospital and later died. ^{20  21}

None of the Vestas 11th Hour Racing crew were injured, and the team issued a Mayday distress call and participated in search-and-rescue efforts following the collision.  ²⁰ The team later reported that investigations by Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities were expected to close without further action. ²² The Volvo Ocean Race subsequently commissioned an independent review of nighttime racing in congested waters, which recommended changes involving navigation equipment, crew training, radar systems, and vessel lighting but was not tasked with determining responsibility for the collision. ²³

Financials

11th Hour Racing has not publicly disclosed standalone annual revenue, expenses, or assets for its current organizational structure, while its grant program has historically been funded by the Schmidt Family Foundation. ²⁴ In 2022, the organization reported nearly $4 million in funding to nonprofit organizations through eight new grants and 34 renewed grants. ⁶ The organization has also repeatedly supported environmental groups, including Azul, the Ocean Conservancy, the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. ²⁵ In January 2025, 11th Hour Racing announced $4.4 million in grants to 11 new organizations and 36 previously supported organizations primarily located in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. ⁷

Leadership

As of 2026, co-founder Jeremy Pochman was the CEO of 11th Hour Racing. Pochman is also the co-founder and CEO of Newport and Rhode Island-based environmental center Ocean Hour Farm. ²⁶

As of 2026, Michelle Carnevale is the president of 11th Hour racing. Carnevale previously worked at the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center on Rhode Island’s “climate-change adaptation plan” and state policy concerning offshore wind development. ²⁷