Francesca Clapcich ready for her first Solitaire du Figaro

Everything is ready in St. Nazaire for the start of the Solitaire du Figaro 2021.

Francesca has made the necessary safety and measurement checks and the boat is ready to leave the dock in this great adventure. Francesca will be the first Italian/American woman ever to take part in what is considered the most important and difficult solo offshore regatta. 4 stages from 450 to 680 miles, 34 registered crews, 5 women, 12 bizuth (rookie), 1 month for the event, 4 ports (St. Nazaire, Lorient, Fecamp and Roscoff), 8 nations represented and iconic waypoints to go around . Just to name a few: the Fastnet, Isle of Scilly, La Coruna in Spain…

Start of the first stage on Sunday 22 at 5.45 pm and 680-mile course that will take Francesca and the fleet to race on a demanding course in the Bay of Biscay! There will be 4 days of racing to follow carefully on the event tracker!

Francesca a few days before the departure:
 “I am certainly excited, for me it is a very important regatta and in recent months I have prepared myself in the best way to be able to face it with the right mentality. I managed to do some training days in Lorient with a good group and the speed was good. Being a bizuth (rookie), obviously I lack years of experience, there are those who have already done this regatta 12 times or more. I will try to focus on the strategy and try to be fast in all moments of the race. The goal is to be able to finish a stage in the top 10 and then we'll see! I will have to try to manage the 4 stages and focus on sleep, recovery and performance! Special thanks go to my sponsor State Street Bank who is supporting me in this event, sadly it will only take us to the end of Solitaire and I'm looking for new support for next season! "