Francesca Clapcich: Route du Rhum Day 6 Report

After the events of yesterday, when Francesca lost use of her bowsprit on 11th Hour Racing, she has fully recovered her energy, drive, and positive outlook and this morning was talking about her clear goal of trying to finish this race in the best position possible.

Of course, she will be hampered by the loss of her big downwind sails that are normally tacked onto the bowsprit, but in the short term at least Francesca has a weather picture that might suit her reduced sail inventory as she tackles a tropical depression centred 600 nautical miles [690 miles | 1,111 kilometers] north of Pointe-à-Pitre on Guadeloupe.

This morning, 11th Hour Racing was holding fifth position 350 nautical miles [368 miles | 592 kilometers] behind the leader Corentin Horeau (MACSF) and tackling a light patch in the breeze ahead of stronger winds associated with the depression. Francesca has 1,380 nautical miles [1,588 miles | 2,556 kilometers] still to sail to the finish and has been overtaken by Elodie Bonafous (Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner), but she still has a margin of over 100 nautical miles [115 miles | 185 kilometers] on sixth-placed Maxime Sorel (Vaincre la Mucoviscidose). Behind him, Davy Beaudart (Bureau Vallée) is another 100 miles to the east in seventh position.

Today Francesca got things going with her first shower of the race. “It felt really really nice,” she told us in her voice note from onboard. “I just got a little bit of warm water, washed my hair and cleared up the mindset - it’s always good to take care of yourself and I’ve managed to sleep.”

She set out a philosophical approach to the remainder of the race, determined to make the best of what she has: “It’s the sails that I have - right now I’m on J2, J3, and full main - it’s all the sails that I have, so of course, in this light stuff I am struggling. They have, for sure, either a J0 or something else … so it’s not easy to hold onto that. But these are the options that I have, so it is what it is. 

“As I said to my team,” she continued. “I want to finish the race. I am still in a fairly good position. It depends a bit on what happens at the end. But right now, I have some margin over Maxim and David, but of course the end of the race could be again super-light … and if you don’t have a J0, it is what it is.”

Just now, 11th Hour Racing is experiencing the calm before the next storm and Francesca is enjoying the break from what has been a tough ordeal over the past five days since setting sail from St Malo, France, in a chaotic race that has seen capsizes and retirements across all six classes.

“It is pretty calm weather - 10-11 knots [11-14mph | 20-22kmph] of wind, sometimes a little bit more - and the sea state has finally come down,” she said. “I think, to be honest, we all needed a little bit of a break from this relentless weather … it’s not that common - normally you get champagne sailing in the Trade Winds after the Canaries, going downwind in warm weather. In fact, this is the first day that I have worn a t-shirt. It’s pretty impressively different this year!”

The next objective is negotiating the depression in one piece. “I need to go through this tropical storm which is fairly new for me. I have never had to go through one in my life. I’m assuming it’s similar to a low pressure with way more moisture, so a lot of rain. It depends where you are - it can be quite a thunderstorm, but it’s good for me because, from now on - the next two and half days - it’s going to be pretty much strong winds on the nose, so having downwind sails is not going to change things that much,” she said.

The challenge may come at the end of the race when the skippers have to sail around the often windless west side of Guadeloupe to the finish. Francesca knows she may struggle at that point without a big downwind sail pulling her along. “The problem is the end - it’s really uncertain - even if it is still a westerly flow, it will be light, so having a J0 is a big advantage. At that point we will be fairly close to Guadeloupe and getting around it will be another challenge,” she said.

The 11th Hour Racing skipper also offered her sympathy to her competitors in this race who have either been injured or had to abandon their race or even their boats. Compared to them, she said, she was in a much better position. “I am really sorry for all the skippers that had to abandon so far and all the really hard situations they have been through. So far I have been in a better position than that, so I am not complaining,” she said.