Monaco is 1 of 6 locations hosting the star-studded E1 — a race thought ‘impossible’ before it began

Monaco’s connection to car racing and boating is stamped all over it, from the hairpin turns of its Formula One circuit to the five-deck superyachts docked at Port Hercule.

But its desires to be known as a sustainability destination are less apparent.

Monaco’s “Green is the New Glam” campaign, launched in 2018, highlighted many of the country’s environmental efforts. And a 2023 tourism campaign named sustainability as one of three key pillars — alongside “Instagrammability” and digital nomad appeal — for attracting new travelers.

Its green goals are at odds with its greenhouse-gas-emitting superyachts and beloved Formula One races. The latter’s carbon footprint amounted to more than 223,000 tons of carbon dioxide across the 2022 season, according to a Formula One report. But they do align with a new boating competition E1 which races 100% electric-powered speedboats. 

Monaco is one of six locations hosting the competition, which launched in Saudi Arabia in February.

During the Monaco race on July 28, Bernard d’Alessandri, general secretary and managing director of Yacht Club de Monaco, said E1 showcases new technology for boat racing.

“Before E1, it was impossible to have a race with electric boats,” he said. “E1 has proven you can.”

Nine teams, co-piloted by one man and one woman, are competing in Racebirds, fully electric speedboats custom-built for E1. Akin to a high-tech hummingbird, its small wings, head and body are punctuated by an extended nose and a sleek metallic exterior.

According to race organizers, the Racebird is a certified zero-emission boat, which doesn’t release oil or fuel into the water and creates around half the noise and fewer waves than typical motorized boats — all of which can distress marine life. 

Race organizers also use robotic anchorless buoys to mark courses, which don’t damage seabeds like anchors do, said Rodi Basso, E1’s CEO and co-founder, and a former Formula One engineer.

Since the first race, organizers have gradually reduced the time and shipping containers needed to host the races. Now they are working on building boats near race sites, rather than moving boats around for each competition, organizers said.

Basso said the race has already attracted the attention of important “stakeholders” in the country, including Prince Albert II of Monaco. 

“They’ve seen we are serious about the values that we were trying to build,” he said. “They care about the future of yachting.” 

Racebird creator Sophi Horne said getting the attention of Monaco’s boating elite wasn’t easy. 

She said very few people believed in the Racebird during its design phase. But the race changed that, she said, recalling a recent meeting with a megayacht designer in Monaco she has long admired.

“Sitting at his office with his naval architects going over the Racebird concept in detail, and for it to trigger a different way of thinking — that was huge for me,” Horne said. 

Horne is founder and chair of a separate company, Seabird, which focuses on electric powerboat design and development. She said she is now taking orders from local boating enthusiasts interested in going electric.

“They see the coolness of it, and they want something their buddies don’t have,” she said. “The Racebird is so different from what they’ve seen before … they want to know if we can make its baby sister, but something that will fit the whole family.” 

E1’s celebrity factor is drumming up attention too — an intentional move for a race with boats that reach a top speed of 58 miles per hour, slower than Formula One H2O speedboats, which can go nearly 150 miles per hour.

The nine team owners — actor Will Smith, tennis player Rafael Nadal, singer Marc Anthony, NFL player Tom Brady, soccer star Didier Drogba, cricketer Virat Kohli, Formula One driver Sergio Perez, DJ/record producer Steve Aoki and billionaire businessman Marcelo Claure — are central characters in the races, with their names and faces emblazoned on marketing materials. 

Brady and Drogba were spotted embracing at the VIP lounge in Monaco, after Brady’s team made it to the top of the leaderboard following the fourth race of the season.

But team owners are called on to do more than just cheer on their boats. E1 requires both owners and teams play an active role in marine conservation. E1 will crown a winner not just of the championship itself, but of its conservation program, Blue Impact. Team Nadal is working to protect the endangered seagrass meadows found in the Mediterranean Sea, which surrounds his native Mallorca, and Monaco, too.

The celebrity factor also brings conservation awareness to the public, said professor Carlos Duarte, climate change scientist and E1’s chief scientist.

“Having people like Tom Brady talk about committing themselves to ocean action has a huge influence on public engagement,” he said. “Then we can talk about solutions, we can talk about new technology, we can talk about what the communities are doing in the cities that we race in.”

The remaining two races in the E1 Series are scheduled to occur on Aug. 23 in Lake Como, Italy, followed by Hong Kong on Nov. 10.