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11th HOUR RACING - WILL HARRIS & FRANCESCA CLAPCICH

11th Hour Racing’s Perfect partnership is prepared and super motivated

IMOCA
19 October 2025 - 17h25
“I am a rookie” jokes Francesca Clapcich with a self-deprecating grin. The charismatic Italian American, better known as Frankie has already won The Ocean Race with 11 th Hour, her second crewed round the world race, and in her previous life as a double Olympian was 49er FX European and World Champion.

But, yes, strictly speaking the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR is her first IMOCA race in the colours of her very own 11 th Hour Racing campaign, it will be her first double handed transatlantic. She may be a little wide eyed as she walks the dock in Le Havre, determined to enjoy and learn from every moment of this experience. But she is no rookie. It’s not her first rodeo.

But she is loving this ‘first and is deeply appreciative’: “I have an IMOCA on the dock with my face on it. That does not happen to everyone every day. I really want to live this full experience to enjoy it all. And it is the first time being together in a duo with Will.”

 

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As co skipper, Brit Will Harris has moved seamlessly with Malizia - which he co-skippered with Boris Herrmann and raced round the world on the last The Ocean Race – which is now Clapcich’s 11 th Hour Racing.

And in this 18 boat IMOCA line up there is probably not a co-skipper or skipper who has sailed more miles on their boat than Harris, who even between the Course des Caps, The Ocean Race Europe and winning the Admiral’s Cup with Team Jolt for Monaco has spent more time racing on the ocean in the last four months than he has on land! They have already raced both of these crewed IMOCA races together, usually sharing the same watch partnerships so they know how best to work together.

She enthuses, “This is my first Transat Café L’Or and so I am really looking forwards to each little part of the race course as there is so much to learn on each little stage. Like getting out of the English Channel is never easy, getting past the Canary Islands the transition into the Trade Winds. And then it is never over until it is over….. into the finish line is often very tricky. The best part of it now is learning. I am not one of the best navigators yet and that is the objective over the coming years, to build the whole skill set.”

Clapcich’s top priority on this first double handed race is learning and building experience short handed, “It has been so nice to sail together first in the crewed configuration and now it is great as Will knows the boat absolutely inside out. For me there is a still a learning curve to learn the different
set ups, but it has been amazing. And together we make a real priority of having a good time. We are not underground mining silver. What we do is so very special, we are so lucky and we have all these good people around us, and our families supporting us. It is really important to enjoy and appreciate
the moment.”

11th HOUR RACING - WILL HARRIS & FRANCESCA CLAPCICH

They share the same ambition and motivation. Harris feels he has unfinished business with his race after taking seventh on the last edition with Herrmann when the boat was Malizia, missing fourth by a matter of 30 minutes. He feels that with the right conditions they could strike a blow as an all international, non-French team.

He highlights, “One thing which is cool about us is we are probably one of the top non French teams here and we have both, in our own ways, had to fight hard to be here, to be here in this French racing, Sailing with Frankie we have both worked hard to be here. We have both come through La Solitaire to be here. Now we want to give the French a run for their money. We should be in the top seven or eight boats and if we make the right choices we can do a really nice race. We don’t see ourselves at the top, as the hot favourites but we are in the hunt.”

“A nuke off would suit us best!”

Harris adds, “I don’t feel the pressure we have to win this thing I feel we have potential and I think we can do well. It is the first race on Frankie’s new campaign, we have to get there of course, but we have a well-tested boat, if things go our way we could make a really nice result. What we don’t want is a lot of upwind and a bunch of light winds. A nuke off would suit us best! But this NE’ly with a choppy, nasty sea, a mess in the English channel would be great for us. But the thing is really you can be fast but you still need to sail in the right direction. We are quite experienced now and we have the confidence to make our own decisions. On The Ocean Race Europe there were often some very good sailors going in the opposite direction to us and they were not always right and so we have given ourselves that bit of confidence. And we had a good Course des Caps.”

 

More often than not the recent editions of The Transat Café L’Or has seen really tough conditions in the English Channel and on to the Bay of Biscay, being prepared mentally and physically for a brutal opening is essential notes Harris, “For sure the best way to do this race is to have your strategy mapped out before the start and go with it. As soon as you start changing the plan you are already behind the other boats. We need to trust in ourselves that we are making the right decisions and sail on our own race well.”

11th HOUR RACING TCO25
© Jean-Marie Liot / Alea

“For me the first 48 hours is always super tough, it has been 30 plus knots at the start upwind and downwind, but mentally preparing for that first 48 hours is super super important because if you can be up there from the start it is a great motivation to stay there. And I think after a week in Le Havre to go from this to that is a very important of the race. But the race is not won until the trade winds, and so you need to be in the hunt for that part and then.”

Together they are a formidable, like-minded and likeable partnership armed with a super reliable IMOCA and if the wind and weather conditions work in their favour there is every chance they could be the surprise package of the IMOCA fleet.

11th HOUR RACING - WILL HARRIS & FRANCESCA CLAPCICH