Vendée Arctique I Day 5 Report

After nearly five days at sea in the Vendée Arctique, Francesca is in good spirits and enjoying a fast ride downwind heading south onboard 11th Hour Racing, after crossing the race’s virtual waypoint - the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees north.

Currently she is about 70 miles due east of the eastern Icelandic coast, and surfing in fifth place with 1,200 nautical miles [2,222km | 1,380miles] to go on the direct course to the finish at Les Sables d’Olonne in the Vendée region of France. 

11th Hour Racing was around 175 miles [324km | 201 miles] behind the leader, Sam Goodchild (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), and 25 miles [46km | 29 miles] behind fourth-placed Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande MAPEI).

Francesca described the moment she crossed the latitude of the Arctic Circle and was able to put her bow down and start heading southwest for the first time. 

“I’m used to virtual marks, but this was not really a mark,” she said in a voice note from the cockpit. “It was just going to a latitude and bearing away. So it was definitely a bit different. I did put a mark on the software [a palm tree!] just to make it a bit more normal and easier mentally.”

“But it was quite weird,” she added. “It was like ‘alright, we are at 66 North and we’re coming back.’ At one point I checked in with race direction. We didn’t have the precise timing from the beacon that we have onboard, so I sent a photo of my software and they just checked it. So it was pretty nice.”

👉 FOLLOW FRANKIE ON THE TRACKER

Francesca said life onboard is good with no issues to report. However she said the situation ahead, in terms of the racetrack and the weather, is not that easy as she tackles two low pressure systems on a course obstructed by large mammal exclusion zones and the Scottish and Irish coasts.

“We have this low pressure moving from the southwest,” she explained. “The center of this low is just to the west of all the mammal forbidden areas. That low is moving northeast and there is another one forming that is the one that will hit us when we get close to Ireland. So managing that one is quite tricky as there is the remaining wind from this past low. The only option right now is to go through the channel between Ireland and the UK.”

That option – through the North Channel between southwest Scotland and the Northern Ireland coast and into the Irish Sea – has never appealed to Francesca and she is still struggling with tackling it. The North Channel is a confined area with strong tides which can create big seas in wind-against tide conditions. It is also relatively narrow and busy with commercial traffic and fishing boats, and there is a Traffic Separation Scheme to deal with at its northern end.

“So I don’t love the idea,” said Francesca. “There are really strong currents and you have really little margin on both sides to go through it. Plus right now, it looks as though I am going to get there with the current against me – though that can change. So it makes for choppy and wavy conditions. That passage is definitely not something I am looking forward to.”

Back to the present, though, and Francesca was looking forward to getting some miles south under 11th Hour Racing’s keel. “I am trying to make the most of this nice downwind, and we will probably gybe in a few hours and start really heading south and southeast, and kind of getting lifted going around this low,” she said.

In terms of the race overall, she says Beccaria, up ahead, has been sailing at high speed since the Arctic Circle turn and going faster than Violette Dorange (Initiatives-Coeur) in third place. “Ambrogio was really on fire. I think he has a better set-up than Violette downwind. I think she broke her Masthead Zero,” said Francesca.

“I think the race at the moment is really about speed,” she added. “They are far away – I am not going to lie. I think it is wishful thinking to catch up, unless there are so many mistakes. But I normally finish a race when I cross the finish line and, until then, I always push and keep going.

“So we will see at the end – there’s lots of tricky stuff coming in the next three days, so the possibilities are really open.”