Francesca Clapcich launches solo IMOCA season in 1,000-mile foil race

Francesca Clapcich opened the next phase of her IMOCA campaign by lining up for the 1000 Race, a 1,000-nautical-mile solo test that began Sunday in Port-la-Forêt and immediately asked the biggest question in offshore foiling: how fast can a boat go when one sailor has to do everything?

The race launched the 2026 IMOCA Globe Series season at midday local time with seven skippers entered, sending the fleet from Brittany around Fastnet Rock off Ireland and back through the Bay of Biscay. That route is long enough to expose weak points and sharp enough to reward the crews and boats that can keep the carbon machinery moving at race pace. For Clapcich, it was a new level of responsibility. She said this was her first solo race on an IMOCA and her first time sailing a 60-foot foiling boat alone.

That matters because solo on a 60-foot IMOCA is a different sport than double-handed racing. Every sail change, every maneuver, every weather read, every decision on rest and recovery falls on one sailor. For a foil boat, where speed can punish hesitation and reward precision, the margin for error is thin. Clapcich and Team Francesca Clapcich Powered By 11th Hour Racing framed the race as a speed-and-reliability audit, a chance to measure the boat against the fleet and validate the winter refit before the season builds.

The boat itself adds to the intrigue. Clapcich raced Malizia-Seaexplorer, the same IMOCA that Boris Herrmann sailed around the world in the 2024 Vendée Globe, where it finished 12th. That gives Clapcich a proven platform, but not a shortcut. In this class, the boat only gets you into the conversation. The sailor has to keep it there.

Clapcich’s form coming in was strong. She and Will Harris finished second in the Transat Café L’OR in 12 days, 1 hour, 32 minutes and 46 seconds, a result that showed she can already operate near the front of the fleet in high-speed offshore racing. The solo start in France pushed that a step farther and offered a cleaner read on her ceiling.

The bigger target remains the 2028 Vendée Globe, with 11th Hour Racing backing a campaign aimed at making Clapcich the first woman from the United States or Italy to start the race. The 1000 Race was not just a season opener. It was a milestone check on whether her IMOCA program has the pace, durability and solo instincts to get there.