{"id":69687,"date":"2021-09-13T18:06:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T22:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=69687"},"modified":"2023-05-06T22:59:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T02:59:36","slug":"from-doubehanded-to-singlehanded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/from-doubehanded-to-singlehanded\/","title":{"rendered":"From Doubehanded to Singlehanded"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Francesca <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n In 2020, Francesca Clapcich and Jesse Fielding launched a mixed-gender offshore doublehanded campaign with the use of two Figaro Beneteau 3s.<\/span>\n Paul Todd\/ Outside\u00a0Images<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Mixed-doublehanded distance racing was supposed to be the next great Olympic<\/a> discipline. Sailing\u2019s equivalent of the marathon, the International Olympic Committee recently nixed it. This, of course, was bad news for fledgling teams with dreams of Paris 2024. One such squad was that of American sailor Jesse Fielding and Francesca Clapcich, the 33-year-old two-time Olympian and Volvo Ocean Race veteran from Trieste, Italy. In the summer of 2020, Clapcich and Fielding had kick-started a campaign with the backing of a private donor and State Street Bank. Their two-boat Beneteau Figaro 3 training was going full-speed when the Olympic rug got yanked, as did most of their funding. Now what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Their backers were still keen to support a mixed-\u00adgender offshore team, so off to France they went with one last handful of dough to the University of Shorthanded Sailing and a Vend\u00e9e Globe Ph.D. Over the spring and summer of 2021, with a mixture of doublehanded and singled races on State Street-branded Figaro Beneteau 3s (Fearless<\/i> for Clapcich, Opportunity<\/i> for Fielding), they cut their teeth as both teammates and quasi rivals, earning the attention of the elites and future elites of shorthanded sailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

In two humbling years, Fielding says, they\u2019ve jelled to be a formidable team, intent on changing the perception in sailing that only testosterone-fueled egomaniacs can win races. It\u2019s not about Jesse or Francesca, he says, nor egos and skillsets. It\u2019s now about the common cause of showing what diversity in \u00adsailing can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Beneteau <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Figaro Beneteau 3s: Fearless<\/em and Opportunity<\/em><\/span>\n Paul Todd\/ Outside Images<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Fielding considers their first race together, off the coast of Rhode Island, as a defining marker on their timeline. \u201cWe left the dock well-prepared, after only three days of sailing together,\u201d he says. \u201cFrancesca was on the helm, and I was supposed to be the head-out-of-the-boat local guy dealing with the sails. At the start, Clapcich checked a few teams head-to-wind and won the pin. We set the kite and were a mile ahead at the first mark, ripping downwind at 18 knots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

When it came time for Fielding to douse the spinnaker, it wasn\u2019t pretty. Neither was his second attempt. \u201cI tried to do over-the-boom letterboxes, and it didn\u2019t work,\u201d Fielding says. \u201cAnd I just refused during the race to change my preconceived notions of how I was supposed to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

That was a good ego check, he says, and they both learned from it. \u201cThat race focused us on how to get better and to not be disappointed in each other,\u201d Fielding says. \u201cI made my share of mistakes in that race, and we both agree we live and die by the mistakes of the team. After that race, I knew Francesca was someone I wanted to continue on with. We had a good time on a course that most people did not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Welcome to sailing\u2019s equivalent of speed dating. Clapcich, with a far better sailing resume than her male counterpart, was also satisfied with how the first date went. Before the race, and before she answered an out-of-the-blue call from the State Street Marathon Sailing Team, she was holed up in Utah with her wife, Sally Barkow, coaching occasionally but pretty much paying the bills and stuck waiting for the next big thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cSally knew Jesse, and she said I should go for it because he\u2019s a super sailor and a very nice guy. It\u2019s what I really wanted to do, to sail offshore. She saw the spark in my eyes, and she knows it\u2019s not easy for women in sailing to find year-round professional sailing opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

An attraction to the program was definitely the Olympics, she says, but when news came that Paris was off the table, they pivoted to the Figaro scene, the epicenter of singlehanded racing, to race against the best, and next, the Vend\u00e9e Globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Clapcich is driven by goals, she says. It\u2019s all she knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer sailing resume speaks for itself, but it\u2019s just a piece of paper,\u201d Fielding says. \u201cBut from moment number one, we\u2019ve had a great interpersonal connection. She\u2019s an outstanding talent. On the water, on the boat, pulling sheets, driving the boat\u2014I\u2019ve never sailed with anyone with her drive and attitude. We knew early on that it was going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The French shorthanded racing scene, Fielding adds, is where they\u2019re now showing the dynamic they possess. So far, so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing into a weather mark the other day,\u201d he says, describing one particular doublehanded race this summer, \u201cwith Francesca driving and me on the foredeck, we roll into a jib set and nail it. That\u2019s not something you ever see in Figaro sailing. Afterward, people were actually complimenting us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Clapcich <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Clapcich and Fielding \u00adrelocated to France in the summer of 2021 with Clapcich proving to be a quick study in solo racing.<\/span>\n Paul Todd\/ Outside Images<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

One slick maneuver is impressive, but it\u2019s early days on the trek to Mount Vend\u00e9e. And while they\u2019re now a pair, at some point, if they get there, only one of them goes. To that end, Fielding accepts Clapcich is the better sailor, and someday he\u2019ll probably be her jumper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy number-one goal is to bring no ego to the table,\u201d Fielding says, which does sound strange coming from a big, barrel-\u00adchested guy who\u2019s made a living as a sailmaker and professional sailor. \u201cFrancesca has become a phenomenal navigator, with strategy, routing, performance analysis, polar building, the electronics and networking\u2014there\u2019s so much that goes into it, and she is light-years ahead of me because she\u2019s put the work into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Her dream, she says, is to push herself hard around the world, \u201cnot just go for a ride.\u201d But she\u2019s realistic that Vend\u00e9e campaigns are big money, and there are a lot of other teams out there asking for it. \u201cOur skills are on the table,\u201d she says. \u201cI believe in working hard, and your skills are the best welcome card. You can sell a dream, but in the end, it\u2019s about showing how hard you work and what you can bring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

In August, they will face the ultimate test for each of them: La Solitaire du Figaro, a grueling monthlong, multileg singlehanded race around France. It\u2019s the equivalent of doing a 700-mile offshore race every weekend for a month. There will be 34 skippers, 12 of them \u201crookies,\u201d including Clapcich and Fielding, who says no American team has ever done the event with two US-flagged boats. \u201cIn the history books, this will go down as the first of something\u2014and that has value to it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Two working as one. That is the point.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Francesca Clapcich and Jesse Fielding started out with a goal of an Olympic doublehanded effort, but now they must work together, in insolation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20210913","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"159","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"How two champion sailors shifted from a doublehanded campaign to working together as singlehanded sailors","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"AWX2HF7NM5H7RNN4AGLHSNSZSU","arc_website_url":"story\/racing\/from-doubehanded-to-singlehanded\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[484,1572,177],"class_list":["post-69687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-ocean-racing","tag-print-fall-2021","tag-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}