Sunday at 12:00 CEST, Italian-American offshore sailor, Francesca Clapcich, took the start of the 1000 Race – her very first solo race on an IMOCA.
A fleet of seven boats left Port‑la‑Forêt, in Brittany, France, for a 1,200 nautical mile loop via the Fastnet Rock south of Ireland, then rounding a waypoint west of Finisterre.
Then crossing the Bay of Biscay and finishing back in Brittany, in Concarneau, roughly five days later.
“There are definitely a few butterflies now,” said Clapcich. “The 1000 Race will be my first solo race on an IMOCA, which makes it extra special.”
The first challenge for Francesca won’t be too much wind, it will be the absence of it … “People think storms are hard, and they are. But trying to sail in no wind is almost harder. You’re always expecting something.”
The 2026 edition of the 1000 Race features seven solo sailors all taking on the first IMOCA solo race of the year.
Three of the entries have already completed the Vendée Globe – racing solo, non-stop, unassisted around the world – and all of them have an ambition to be on the startline of the 2028 edition.
The 1000 Race, formerly the Bermudes 1000 Race, is the first chapter in a packed solo season that includes the Vendée Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne in early June and the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in November.
In between these races is The Ocean Race Atlantic, the fully-crewed race from New York, USA, to Lorient, France.
All four races score ranking points for the IMOCA Globe Series – the annual World Championship of offshore sailing in which Clapcich finished in 5th place in 2025 – and the two solo races count towards Vendée Globe selection and qualification.
