Francesca Clapcich, it’s official: “At Vendee Globe 2028 with 11th Hour Racing and Malizia 3”

The news was in the air, and he had anticipated it to us during the episodes of The Vendée Globe Trial, but now it is official: Francesca Clapcich is launching her Imoca 60 campaign , goal Vendée Globe 2028, the nonstop, solo round-the-world race. And she does so with a state-of-the-art boat, Malizia 3, with which the German Boris Herrmann finished in 12th position in the Vendee Globe, VPLP project. She will be supported by 11th hour Racing as title sponsor.

Francesca Clapcich, who is also a recent U.S. citizen, has taken part in two Olympics and two round-the-world races, winning one of them, the Women America’s Cup; with the Vendee Globe she would be the first woman to have participated in all four competitions, as well as the first Italian on the round-the-world race.

We heard from Francesca for an initial comment on the birth of the new sports project.

Francesca Clapcich: “My Vendee Globe run-up begins.”

“It’s off, I will have 11th hour Racing alongside as title sponsor and we have chosen a boat that can give us guarantees first of all,” began Francesca Clapcich in our chat. “At the end of September I will have the boat and we start immediately with the Transat Jacques Vabre in doubles on October 26. We will soon decide with which co-skipper I will do it, the priority would be to have a profile with good experience on the Imoca 60s.” And on the choice of boat he tells us, “My priority was to have an Imoca 60 first of all reliable and broken-in, and in this sense Malizia is because she has already tackled two round-the-world races. And then it was available right away, another very important thing because I need to gain experience and miles for the Vendee Globe qualification and I want to start doing them right away so I can manage the program calmly,” he told us.

A boat Francesca believes in: “I was impressed in the last part of the Vendee Globe how well it held up in very hard conditions and was fast in the last bad depression that took Boris. But we had also seen him during The Ocean Race that with very hard weather he has great potential.” Indeed, Malizia at the last The Ocean Race set the record for miles sailed in the 24 hours, 641 at nearly 27 knots average.

“I will be based in Lorient with the other Imoca people,” he continues, “And we will also team up a bit with Boris Herrmann since we will be sharing the shore shed and some of the people from the two teams will be sharing. We will do the Transat Jacques Vabre with old foils, because the boat broke one during the Vendee Globe, otherwise she arrived in good condition. Then refits will be done in the future, at strategic times, and we will also decide which way to go with the foils.”

Who is Francesca Clapcich and what is 11th Hour Racing.

Born in Trieste in 1988, Francesca Clapcich has competed in two Olympics, one in Laser, and the second in 49er FX. Just on the 49er she was with Conti Italian, European and world champion, before turning to offshore sailing. She took part in two crewed round-the-world races, winning one; she is considered one of the most versatile and complete sailors in Italian sailing.

11th Hour Racing is an organization founded by philanthropists Wendy Schmidt, Ron Mac Millane the sailor Jeremy Pochman, which is dedicated to promoting conservation of the oceans, the environment, and inclusion in the world of sports, through support of sports projects and through advocacy campaigns. President Wendy Schmidt is a philanthropist and investor who has spent nearly two decades creating innovative nonprofit organizations to work with communities around the world for clean, renewable energy, healthy food systems, clean oceans, and the protection of human rights.

Mauro Giuffrè