August 27, 2026

When I told my family chat I was going sailing in Newport, I got a mix of replies...

But let me tell you… both were far off from what I was about to experience.

I was very glad to not have a cable knit sweater draped over my shoulders when I arrived. We signed waivers, put on helmets, and were told to be prepared for a jerky ride.

I was in Newport, Rhode Island last week visiting my client, 11th Hour Racing, and part of the trip meant climbing aboard an IMOCA: Francesca "Frankie" Clapcich's ocean racing boat. An IMOCA is one of the most advanced, most demanding boats in the world, built to circumnavigate the planet.

Frankie's boat is 59 feet of carbon fiber and razor-sharp engineering, with foils that lift the entire hull out of the water and a sail plan that would make most weekend sailors' knees buckle.

Once on board, we got a full tour of the boat. She showed us her “kitchen” (a small sink in the corner), where she sleeps, eats, and at times lives for months at a stretch, alone, in the open ocean. It reminded me of touring a space shuttle at NASA's Air and Space Center years ago: every inch built for a purpose, nothing wasted, and completely in awe that someone actually lives and survives inside it.

Then she started speeding up, and I understood the waivers.

Foiling means the boat lifts above the waves and you feel like you're flying. Frankie had us sit right behind her at the helm, and, grinning from ear to ear, she soaked us. Multiple times. On purpose. We were all laughing like crazy the entire time.

Her joy was contagious. She had a huge smile on her face, the kind of obsessive passion that only shows up when someone is doing exactly what they were built to do. Being around that kind of dedication is inspiring in a way that's hard to fake and impossible to manufacture.

I got to have this experience because 11th Hour Racing sponsors Frankie, and together they're racing around the world carrying a message far bigger than the race itself: Believe. Belong. Achieve.

Frankie is working toward a just future: one where people can believe in themselves, belong in an equitable and sustainable world, and achieve their dreams. 11th Hour Racing's mission is to use their platform, their experiences, and the sport of sailing itself to tackle discrimination and climate change through education, advocacy, and collective action.

Watching that mission in motion, on the water and through an interactive experience downtown Newport, made it real in a way no deck presentation ever could.

As Frankie and her crew head toward The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 this September, they're competing under a rule that's never existed in this race's 52-year history: every team is now required to run a gender-balanced crew, two women and two men, no exceptions.

11th Hour Racing is the Impact Partner behind that requirement, part of their push to, in the words of CEO Jeremy Pochman, "set a new benchmark for equity and access in offshore racing for women to compete with parity at the highest level of the sport."

Frankie’s been living this out for years. Watch the video here. ​

This is exactly the kind of story that gets me out of bed in the morning.

My work is about helping leaders use their voice and their story to actually move people. Not to perform, not to chase attention, but to create real impact. This is our definition of true thought leadership, and Frankie is doing exactly that.

She's shaping policy. She's inspiring people to take care of the ocean and the planet. And she's doing it by being completely herself: real, open, personable, unfiltered. That authenticity is exactly what's inviting a new generation — younger, more diverse, more female — into a sport that has historically been anything but.

Go Frankie! Best of luck at The Ocean Race Atlantic this September. We'll all be watching.

Brynne

P.S. Before I flew home, I snuck in a tour of The Breakers Mansion, the Vanderbilts' Gilded Age summer "cottage." Standing in that house, I couldn't stop thinking about the parallels between that era of runaway innovation and wealth and the one we're living through right now with AI. More on that soon…

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