Park City-area sailor Francesca Clapcich races toward the Arctic Circle

Park City’s outdoor brand reached far beyond ski runs and singletrack when Francesca Clapcich crossed the start line of the Vendée Arctique on Sunday in Les Sables d’Olonne, France. The race sends solo sailors north toward the Arctic Circle, and Clapcich’s entry put a Park City-area athlete into one of offshore racing’s hardest tests of endurance, judgment and seamanship.

The 2026 Vendée Arctique is the third edition of the event and the first solo race in the IMOCA 2025-2028 cycle, an early marker on the road to the 2028 Vendée Globe. Organizers said the field included nine skippers, three women and sailors from four nationalities, with roughly 3,500 nautical miles to cover in a solo, non-stop, unassisted format. The route is free, meaning each skipper must choose a path north, cross the Arctic Circle at a longitude of their choosing, then turn back toward Les Sables d’Olonne.

Clapcich’s official race profile described her as Italian by birth and residing in Utah, USA. 11th Hour Racing said she lives in Park City with her daughter, Harriet. The same profile noted that she represented Italy at the London and Rio Olympics, a résumé that already spans the highest levels of sailing and makes her one of the sport’s more unusual crossover competitors.

For Summit County, her start mattered because it widened the region’s athletic identity. Park City is known for skiing, mountain biking and trail sports, but Clapcich’s campaign showed that the area also produces endurance athletes who can compete in disciplines most locals never see up close. In that sense, her race carried more than a personal challenge. It put a Utah base behind a global sailing campaign and added ocean racing to the list of sports that can claim a Park City connection.

Clapcich’s campaign materials say the Vendée Arctique counts toward her qualification for the Vendée Globe, which makes the Arctic race part of a larger professional path, not just a one-off adventure. 11th Hour Racing also said that if she completes the event, she would become the first person to compete in sailing’s so-called Big Four: the Olympics, the America’s Cup, The Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe. For Park City and Summit County, that is the larger local story, a hometown-adjacent athlete pushing a mountain-town name into the center of elite offshore racing.