Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing in The Ocean Race Atlantic - Day 5
by Team Francesca Clapcich 7 Sep 02:13 PDT
from 1 September 2026
Often in sailing it is said that the 'rich get richer' meaning that the leading boat keeps increasing its margin over its pursuers. This is not the case as day five of The Ocean Race Atlantic draws to a close.
11th Hour Racing has led the way into lighter winds after three brutal days of sailing in a big Atlantic depression and this has allowed the chasing boats, led by United by the Ocean skippered by Paul Meilhat, to catch up.
At one stage Meilhat and his crew were 30 nautical miles behind Francesca and the team - Will Harris, Elodie-Jane Mettraux, and Alberto Bona - but this morning the French team have edged ahead by a fraction of a mile. The two boats are now side-by-side on a vast expanse of Atlantic ocean about 600 miles northwest of Ponta Delgada in the Azores and moving at under 10 knots.
Not only has United by the Ocean caught up, but behind her DMG Mori Global One has continued to make gains and was just 13 miles behind the two leaders but still sailing around six knots faster. And behind DMG Mori, in turn, Team Malizia is also using the fresher winds still in play further west to cut their deficit on the leaders which is now less than 50 miles.
Ahead, the weather that has been so straightforward for the first part of the race now looks a lot more complex as an area of light winds pushes the boats a little further to the northeast as they look to sail over the top of it to the finish at Lorient.
Onboard 11th Hour Racing all is well after the severe hammering the boat and crew took during the storm and Will Harris took a moment on deck at the stern to sum up the situation. The British sailor looked relieved to be out in some fresh air and flat water as he set out the state of play with 11th Hour Racing at that stage still just ahead.
"It's been a couple of days of some of the roughest IMOCA conditions I've been in," he said. "The sea state was absolutely terrible, but we've finally found some flat water again, less wind and we are still in the lead.
"But over the next few days it's going to get pretty light and tricky," he added. "It looks like the other boats are going to catch us up with more wind behind us, but we will do our best to stay in front and hopefully in four days we will be at the finish line."
Earlier, during the hours of darkness, Francesca talked about how she and Alberto were trying to hold position in the new light winds. "Over the next few hours we're in for a long upwind leg in the company of 'our friends' from United by the Ocean who have caught up with us," she said. "We entered the area of light winds before them, so now we're right next to them - we can see their navigation lights. After 2,000 miles here we are together!"
In a separate voice note this morning, Francesca said the crew had taken the chance to get some good rest as the sea state calmed down and the temperature dropped too. "I am really happy that the conditions have eased a bit and everybody has had the chance to get some rest and recover," she said.
"It's really close between United by the Ocean and us - just a mile or two and we are trying to hang in there. We have just sailed into the lighter patch and then we have to go through this ridge - everybody has to go through it - we know their boat is quite quick in light conditions, so we are really trying to hang in there. We're not losing that much which is good and, you know, it's a race - it's always good to have a competitor around us pushing us to be better and to push the boat more."
Francesca added that a close finish involving the whole six-strong fleet is now a possibility.