Francesca Clapcich ready to race to the Arctic Circle

Francesca Clapcich - 11th Hour Racing Team © Julien Champolion - polaRYSE / 11th Hour Racing

On June 7, 2026, Italian-American offshore sailor Francesca Clapcich will take the start of the Vendée Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne onboard her 60-foot foiling IMOCA 11th Hour Racing.

The fleet of nine boats will leave Les Sables d'Olonne on the west coast of France at 1302 CEST [1102 UTC] for one of the most innovative events in offshore racing: a race with no fixed course, no waypoint to round, and no single route to the finish.

The skippers must sail to the Arctic Circle - at 66 degrees north latitude - cross it at any longitude they choose, and return to Les Sables d'Olonne. The open routing means strategic decisions will define the race from the very first miles sailed, with the skippers' individual decisions potentially leading to dramatically different conditions and results. Based on current weather forecasts, the race is expected to last approximately ten days.

The Vendée Arctique Les Sables d'Olonne also carries significant weight beyond the leaderboard: it is the first qualifying race for the Vendée Globe, the world's premier solo, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world race. For Clapcich, whose campaign is built around her 2028 Vendée Globe campaign, every mile counts.

Clapcich commented, "The Vendée Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne is a really interesting race. We'll be racing all the way to the Arctic Circle, somewhere I've never been before. There's no specific waypoint to reach. You just need to find the best strategy to get to the Arctic Circle, cross it at any longitude, and come back to Les Sables d'Olonne. The course is completely open, something pretty new in offshore racing, and it means the tactical game between skippers will stay open right to the end."

The North Atlantic has a reputation, and this race has done nothing to soften it. This year's edition takes skippers far north, with routing complexity to match. Three days out, the first hours are beginning to take shape. "The forecast is pointing to fairly light conditions at the start. There's a ridge sitting around the course. But as soon as we head north-northwest into Biscay, we should pick up a nice southwesterly.

"It's going to get fast, quickly. The goal is to find the sweet spot, somewhere between the Greenland-Iceland boundary and the Norway latitude, and as we get closer, we can define that optimal position more precisely. It's genuinely challenging from a routing standpoint, and that's what makes it interesting."

The North Atlantic and Arctic waters are home to rich and fragile marine ecosystems, a reality the race direction takes seriously through a series of exclusion zones designed to protect biodiversity along the course. Backed by title sponsor 11th Hour Racing, the team places ocean health at the heart of the campaign.

The commitment goes further: the team has developed a Nature Action Plan ahead of the race, using the framework from the Marine Mammal Advisory Group and World Sailing's Marine Megafauna in Sailing guidelines. This Plan reviews the waters she may race through, identifying the species specifically at risk of collision, to understand the seasonal behaviors of the marine species she may encounter, and ensure the team has a robust reporting system for any sightings and incidents in place.

For the skipper, the destination itself is uncharted territory. Having spent recent months building solo racing experience, including competing in her first IMOCA solo race, she arrives at the start line with growing confidence in both herself and her machine.

"This is my second solo race on an IMOCA, and I'm going into different conditions than the first," said Clapcich. "One key goal is building experience in heavy weather, the kind of conditions I may face in the Southern Ocean in a few years. That matters a lot to me. This race is also the first qualifying event for the Vendée Globe. This boat is made for big waves and strong winds so I want to push it and find out what it can do."

"Beyond that, my main focus is the strategic and routing side. There are some very experienced navigators in this fleet, and I know I don't have that depth yet. I want to build a clear plan, stick to it, and come home with a real baggage of learning I can carry through the season and into the years ahead."

On and off the water, Clapcich's mission goes beyond results: building a sailing community where belonging, diversity, and equality are not the exception, but the standard. Under the 11th Hour Racing title sponsorship, the campaign carries her message visible on the sails themselves, that everyone can Believe, Belong, and Achieve.

The Vendée Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne is the second event of a packed 2026 season for Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing, following the 1000 Race in May and before the fully crewed Ocean Race Atlantic in August and the solo Route du Rhum in November.