Day 5 of the Transat Café L’OR and Francesca and Will onboard 11th Hour Racing have moved to the front of the fleet as they negotiate a tricky light-wind ridge on the approach to the Canary Islands.

Day 4 and the duo of Francesca Clapcich and Will Harris have risen to third on the tracker. It’s a beautiful morning and the last 24 hours have gone well for the crew onboard 11th Hour Racing.

It’s Day 3 of the Transat Café L’OR and Francesca and Will are maintaining their place in the lead pack of four boats. It’s a fast and furious downwind run down the Portuguese coast.

Day 2 of the Transat Café L’OR and Francesca and Will are in the leading pack of four boats in the IMOCA fleet, at one point over night moving up into second position. The sun is out and the mood is good onboard!

Follow all the action from the Transat Café L’OR here! We’ve got the tracker here, plus all the updates from the race course. Keep returning back here for daily updates, videos, photos, and news from Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing!

And they’re off! It’s finally here - Start Day for the Transat Café L’OR. Find out how things went for Francesca and Will as they set off on the 4,350 nautical mile race across the Atlantic from Le Havre, France to Martinique in the Caribbean.

With just two days to go before the start of the Transat Café L’OR, Will Harris, shares some insights on what happens in the final countdown before the start gun. From saying goodbye to his family to weather routing to sauna-time, it’s a busy time for the team.

In just a few days, I’ll line up on the start of the Transat Café L’OR, a 4,350-mile double-handed race across the Atlantic from Le Havre, France, to Martinique. It’s one of the toughest races in the IMOCA calendar, and it marks the beginning of a new chapter for me.

It was beyond hot onboard Team Malizia for the last leg, from Cartagena, Spain to Nice, France. It was all we could do to keep up our calorie and water intake to ensure we didn’t end up lacking energy or get too dehydrated.

Leg 2 of The Ocean Race Europe was such a mix - of weather, of speed, of wind - everything! It feels good to be sitting here in Cartagena, in my air-conditioned apartment, cool, showered, and in the quiet.

I arrived in Portsmouth, UK, yesterday just in time to see Team Malizia arrive after Leg 1 of The Ocean Race Europe. The fleet had left Kiel in Germany on August 10, and after 1,000 nautical miles, it was a close fought battle right to the finish with Paprec Arkéa.

Team Malizia is currently sailing off Ireland’s wild east coast, heading south toward the finish line in Boulogne-sur-Mer. They’re expected to arrive late tomorrow, navigating strong winds along the way. Francesca continues her offshore adventure aboard Malizia - Seaexplorer.

Frankie is going to co-skipper Malizia-Seaexplorer with Britain’s Will Harris in the upcoming Course des Caps. Read on to find out more about this 2,000 mile race around Great Britain and Ireland.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to properly meet my future companion for my solo race around the world: the 60-foot sailing boat, Malizia-Seaexplorer. The occasion: one of the first training sessions with Team Malizia.

Now that the news is out there that I’m joining Team Malizia for The Ocean Race Europe, I can finally share our team’s schedule for 2025. It’s going to be a busy one!

It’s official! Will Harris is going to be my co-skipper for this year’s TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR. I’m really pleased we’ll be racing alongside each other - he knows the IMOCA we’ll be racing inside out and I’ll be able to learn so much from him. Stoked to get going!

Tomorrow, Friday, August 16, 2024 I'll be setting sail. Again.

It takes a lot of organization and the unwavering support of incredible people to manage multiple projects, travel, and training.

I’m writing this on an airplane back to the US in a brief moment of quietness. I’m taking my daughter Harriet to stay with her Grandma while her Mom, Sally, is working in France for the US Sailing…

Francesca takes a look back on the first Act of the Ocean Fifty Series in Saint-Malo and looks forward to Act Two

Francesca’s dream is to race solo, non-stop around the world in the Vendee Globe - the pinnacle of offshore sailing