Team Francesca Clapcich in the Vendée Arctique - Day 2

Team Francesca Clapcich in the Vendée Arctique - Day 2 © Francesca Clapcich / 11th Hour Racing

After nearly 48 hours at sea in the third edition of the Vendée Arctique, Francesca is flying along, very close to the Irish coast onboard 11th Hour Racing, and holding fifth position out of the eight boats still racing.

Yesterday the second-placed skipper, Corentin Horeau (FRA) onboard MACSF, was forced to retire and return to Lorient after the staysail tack fitting pulled out, reminding us how much stress boats and gear have been under in the early stages of this race.

This morning Francesca painted a vivid picture of life onboard a foiling IMOCA in big winds and big seas, as she chased the Italian skipper Ambrogio Beccaria on Allagrande MAPEI, who was just a couple of miles ahead of her in fourth position.

The boats have been on port tack all the way to Ireland and are set to continue on this point of sail as they power-reach north. "It was a pretty tough night," reported Francesca. "Of course, it's big winds with a bigger sea state and it's been mixed between pushing the boat and also balancing out slowing down, when it was too much slamming. In the end it is about preserving the boat."

"There are no issues here," she added, "Still the sea state is pretty big on the coast of Ireland and I am trying to stay really close to the coast to try to have less sea state and be able to go a bit faster."

Francesca has not been immune to the effects of a violent ride north. "There was so much sea state that at one point I got a bit seasick," she said. "And it was hard to do the navigation and check all the routing in front of the computer. But so far so good. I try to move as little as possible around the boat because it is really kind of dangerous to move around too much."

She said she was sad to hear of Horeau's retirement and of the damage to his boat. In the meantime, she has her hands full trying to match the pace of Beccaria, who has caught up and overtaken 11th Hour Racing as the boats passed the southwest tip of Ireland. It's a great battle between the Italian-American and the Italian skipper, especially as Francesca is taking part in only her second solo race in the IMOCA class

Team Francesca Clapcich in the Vendée Arctique - Day 2 - photo © Francesca Clapcich / 11th Hour Racing

"This morning Ambrogio was really, really fast. During the night I think we were both trying to make sure we didn't do any damage. But this morning he really put a gear on and left me there... I'm trying to stay in contact with him," said Francesca.

Up ahead, the west-northwesterly air flow still dominates for the next day or so, but then the weather options become more complicated as the boats race towards five exclusion zones designed to protect sea mammals, which are positioned between Scotland and Iceland. In the longer term, there is also the question of which side of Great Britain the boats use to return from the Arctic Circle to the finish at Les Sables d'Olonne, France.

For now, Francesca summarised the outlook as follows: "There are a few options in the north. We will find some tricky conditions - we have a few low pressures positioning in different ways, so it's about playing with one of them. We might have some light wind at one point, so the game will be open until the end... the weather forecast in front of us is quite complex, so I don't see one answer."