Vendée Arctique I Report day 8

© Julien Champolion - polaRYSE / 11th Hour Racing

Onboard 11th Hour Racing this morning, Francesca is in good spirits, about 105 nautical miles west-northwest of Brest, France, and focusing on the final stages of the Vendée Arctique after nearly eight days at sea.

Overnight she used her A2 spinnaker for the first time and it was a bit of a handful. “I spent the night on the kite,” she said. “It was too much at the top end of it. I should probably have been on the Quad*, but I wanted to position myself to the north, or northeast a little bit where, close to the TSS off Ushant, there seems to be more breeze – but it’s hard to know.”

*The Quad is a flat intermediate sail positioned between the large Masthead Zero (MH0) gennaker and the J0 (a very large hybrid jib).

Using the A2, though, has been another important learning experience in this race. “For me, being able to use the entire set of sails that I have onboard and I chose to bring with me is really, really important because the kite, for instance, is something that I don’t know that well. It was interesting to check it out, especially when you are on your own managing such a massive sail with its sock,” she said.

👉 FOLLOW FRANKIE ON THE TRACKER

Francesca talked in her voice note from onboard about other lessons learned on this race too. “There have been tons of decision-making and tactical decisions that I didn’t make that well,” she summarized. “After a few days to collect my thoughts and put everything down, it will be a good debrief because, in the end, it’s a massive learning experience for me every single time I go on the water.”

With 260 miles to go to the finish, 11th Hour Racing is continuing to hold fifth position, with a gap to fourth-placed Violette Dorange (Initiatives-Coeur) of about 37 miles, and another 10 miles to Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande MAPEI) in third position. The weather situation in the closing stages off Les Sables d’Olonne looks to be dominated by a small depression offshore that should offer mainly downwind conditions for much of the final stages.

Francesca is not seeing many chances to catch the boats in front, but also points out that the final hours look very uncertain. “I’m not sure I have many options here,” she said. “It’s going to be tricky until the end. Who knows what’s going to happen? I am trying to sail my best, and I am trying things that maybe I didn’t do before. I also just want to get to the finish line; it’s going to be a really amazing achievement in such a hard race.” 

While she is in fifth position at the moment, one aspect that could change the ranking is the 12-hour penalty handed out to second-placed Elodie Bonafous (Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner), who strayed into the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) off the Mull of Kintyre on her way to the North Channel. This morning Bonafous was 70 miles ahead of Francesca.

While she is happy to be finishing this qualified for the Route du Rhum and Vendée Globe in one piece, Francesca still hasn’t given up all hope of making gains. “A few more miles to go – less than 300 to the finish,” she said. “And trying to do my best to navigate the last bit that is far from easy, especially weather-wise. It is really complicated. But let’s see what I can get from the magician’s hat – probably not that much, but it is good to hope,” she added.