Francesca Clapcich has announced the onboard crew roster for the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic.
First up is Will Harris (Great Britain) who was Clapcich’s co-skipper for the Transat Cafe-L’Or (formerly the Transat Jacques Vabre). The pair pulled off an impressive and unexpected second place. Clapcich credits their success to having a plan from the get-go and sticking to it and also says that their sailing styles complement each other. Harris also has the benefit of many miles aboard Clapcich’s boat, which he sailed around the world on in the 2023 Ocean Race under Malizia livery.
Elodie-Jane Mettraux (Switzerland) will join them, bringing offshore experience in the form of two Volvo Ocean Race campaigns (Team SCA and Turn the Tide on Plastic). More recently, she acted as co-skipper on UpWind by MerConcept during the 2025 season.
To round out the sailors, Alberto Bona (Italy) joins the crew. Known primarily for his Class40 record, Bona is an experienced shorthanded sailor and says the “fully crewed” four-person sailing team will be different for him.
Finally, American filmmaker and onboard reporter Meredith Rodgers will serve as the media crew member. Like Bona, this will be her first IMOCA race.
“I really wanted to build a team with a mix of different experiences, and I’m pleased with the caliber of crew we have brought together—all of them with expert offshore sailing knowledge,” Clapcich says. “The best thing is that we’re all very good friends, and sometimes it’s nice to go racing with people you genuinely enjoy being around. That was definitely part of the goal when putting this team together.”
The Ocean Race Atlantic, which runs 3,000 miles from New York to Lorient, France, will kick off on September 1. Four other skippers have been confirmed for the event, including Boris Herrmann, Paul Mielhat, Kojiro Shiraishi, and Oliver Heer. Like Clapcich, we can expect all of these skippers to be putting these race miles towards their qualifications for the 2028 Vendee Globe.
For more on Clapcich and her campaign, click here. For more on The Ocean Race Atlantic, click here.
