Team Francesca Clapcich launches 2026 Purpose Program to transform diversity & belonging in sailing
by Francesca Clapcich 9 Apr 10:36 PDT
Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing © Marin Le Roux - polaRYSE / 11th Hour Racing
Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing is today announcing the full launch of its 2026 Purpose Program - a structured, action-oriented commitment to transforming diversity, belonging, and high performance in sailing.
- Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing announces its 2026 Purpose Program featuring education, leadership, and research initiatives built on the Believe, Belong, Achieve framework.
- Clapcich has spent her career navigating spaces in sailing that were not always built for people like her: "I have spent my life trying to fit into sailing, now I work to make sailing fit more people."
- The team has launched two free, evidence-based programs now open to sailing schools, and club teams worldwide: the Believe, Belong, Achieve Workshops and the companion Sailing Instructor Program.
- The team has also commissioned Leeds Beckett University's Carnegie School of Sport to develop its research into how to create a winning culture in performance sport, speaking to international sports teams from Australia to the USA.
Anchored in Francesca Clapcich's core campaign Believe, Belong, Achieve, the program moves beyond conversation into concrete action: in-person workshops, a certified instructor program, academic research, and an organizational infrastructure built to last.
As a double Olympian, the first and only Italian to win The Ocean Race, and a proudly out LGBTQ+ athlete, Clapcich has spent her career navigating spaces in sailing that were not always built for people like her: "I have spent my life trying to fit into sailing, now I work to make sailing fit more people." The Believe, Belong, Achieve Purpose Program is her response not only to the systemic gaps she has experienced firsthand, but to answer the question every underrepresented sailor has ever been forced to ask: do I belong here?
Research grounded in evidence: the Leeds Beckett University study
The Believe, Belong, Achieve framework is not built on intuition alone. Team Francesca Clapcich has commissioned an academic study led by the UK's Leeds Beckett University's Carnegie School of Sport to test one central question: does the way Francesca leads and builds teams - weighted in not only what she aims to achieve, but how she works with people - lead to a culture for success and can it work beyond sailing?
The first two phases of research, led by Professor J North and Lesley McGibbon OLY, have shown clear academic support for the core premise of Believe, Belong, Achieve: when people believe in themselves and feel that they belong, they are significantly more likely to achieve meaningful results. Crucially, Leeds Beckett's researchers identified what they have termed 'The Frankie Way': a 15-step distinctive leadership model rooted in relational leadership over hierarchy, psychological safety, shared ownership of goals, and learning through openness, lived experience, and reflection.
In the first two quarters of this year Professor North and McGibbon are interviewing international sports teams based as far afield as Australia, France, and the USA about how they have built their culture for success and whether their processes are similar to The Frankie Way; the study will be published by July 2026.
Believe, Belong, Achieve Workshops: a learning approach to belonging
The Believe, Belong, Achieve Workshops are the team's flagship education offering providing every participant a clear, personal understanding of why belonging drives performance and sharing tools to start implementing a more inclusive structure in their organizations. The two-hour interactive program is designed for athletes, coaches, managers, shore crew, and sailors in the sport and beyond and is delivered in English, French, or Italian, combining full-group discussions, small-group activities, and individual reflection.
The program is free to attend, provided in partnership with 11th Hour Racing, and designed with accessibility at its center; attendees who complete the workshop will be given a formal certificate of completion.
"The Believe, Belong, Achieve workshop reframed something I thought I already understood. Belonging isn't just about making people feel welcome - it's a performance variable, and as a professional athlete, that's something that really resonated with me. When Frankie talks about belief and belonging as drivers of achievement, she's not speaking abstractly, she's speaking from experience competing at the highest level of the sport. That gave the whole session a credibility that's hard to manufacture. I left with a clearer sense of my own 'why', and a few concrete actions I could actually do differently back in my team environment."
Believe, Belong, Achieve Sailing Instructor Program: building belonging from day one
An instructor is often the first person a new sailor ever meets. That first impression - whether it communicates welcome or exclusion - can determine whether someone stays in the sport for life or walks away after a single session. The Believe, Belong, Achieve Sailing Instructor Program is designed to change that dynamic at scale.
The program is run in two parts. Firstly, instructor trainers, sailing instructors, and coaches attend a two-day 'train the trainer' course equipping them with the soft skills needed to build psychologically safe, inclusive, and high-performing learning environments. Participants leave armed with a full one-day or modular course they can deliver immediately within their own programs.
Similar to the Believe, Belong, Achieve Workshops, the Sailing Instructor Program carries no cost to attendees, attendants receive a certificate of completion, and is currently available in English, with French and Italian delivery coming soon.
Francesca Clapcich commented, "Instructors are the first door into this sport - and for so many people, especially those who don't see themselves reflected in sailing, that door can feel closed before they even step through it. This program is about making sure every instructor has the tools to open it wide. When someone walks into their first sailing lesson and feels genuinely welcomed and seen, that is when the sport starts to change. I'm incredibly proud of what we've built, and I can't wait to see it in the hands of instructors around the world."
What comes next
The 2026 Purpose Program will run in parallel with Clapcich's full offshore racing season encompassing three solo races and one crewed race across two Atlantic crossings, including The Ocean Race Atlantic in September and the Route du Rhum in November. Each race will serve as a platform to amplify the work being done on shore: generating stories, data, and visibility that connect high-performance sport with the systemic change Believe, Belong, Achieve is working to create.
Believe, Belong, Achieve is a living campaign and constantly evolving as new research, voices, and partnerships shape its direction. If you'd like to bring a Believe, Belong, Achieve Workshop to your team or organization, get in touch at