Clapcich is part of 11th Hour Racing Team where she is competing alongside men in their mission to win The Ocean Race.

Last year’s organisers of the around-the-world sailing event underlined its ambitions to reach a 50-50 split of women and men within the next three editions of the race.

This year, all five IMOCA crews have at least two female sailors on their team with Biotherm featuring five.

Clapcich has hailed The Ocean Race’s drive for equality but insisted that the America’s Cup needed to follow suit to give more women the opportunity to compete.

"The America’s Cup is still really men driven," Clapcich told insidethegames.

"The boats are too hard.

"Even the strongest woman cannot compete against one of the strongest men, so you need to change the machine to allow for more equality."

In 1995, an all-female sailing team, called the Mighty Mary and led by Dawn Riley, competed in the Citizen Cup - the event to decide on a defender of the America’s Cup.

But it has remained a largely male dominated event and next year the inaugural edition of a separate Women’s America’s Cup is set to be staged in Barcelona.

"I don’t think the America’s Cup is doing enough," said Clapcich.

"They definitely have different goals, so I am not too sure if [gender equality] will ever happen.

"If the opportunity was there it’s something you would not give up easily.

"But at the same time, a lot of things need to change to be a possibility.

"I always like to think about the reality and things that are doable in the moment and right now I feel that off-shore is the best platform to make a passion your job."

Since The Ocean Race was created in 1973, just 173 of the 2,853 sailors that have taken part in the prestigious event have been women.

But Clapcich, who competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, has been impressed by the changes made to try to bridge the gender gap.

"When I was very little, there were not so many women in these races and it was hard to believe that you could be one of them because they were all guys," said the 35-year-old.

"When all-women teams started taking part in the race it was a big push for women in the sport.

"Right now, it feels like if you work hard and you are doing the right things you can be here along with the men and push the boat just as hard.

"Finally, the thought behind the design is about making them way easier for women so there is not so much strength involved, it’s about the technical side of it.

"The boat can be sailed by one person and it doesn’t matter whether it is a man or a woman, it’s more about the technical skills.

"That’s a game-changer in the sport."

Clapcich is preparing to leave Danish city Aarhus on Thursday (June 7) for The Hague in The Netherlands in the sixth leg of The Ocean Race.

The Italian sailor is determined to help guide the 11th Hour Racing Team to victory as they lead the standings by one point ahead of Team Holcim-PRB.

"We start the race in a place that we were not expecting," said Clapcich.

"We were not really happy at first as the boat was not really reliable enough and there were issues in the first few legs with a lot of things breaking.

"The technical team have worked so hard to get everything in a place where we almost don’t need to bring a toolbox on board.

"Finally, we can trust the boat and when you can do that you can push so hard and the results come as a consequence.

"It’s the pinnacle of off-shore sailing.

"If you can win the Olympics, the America’s Cup and The Ocean Race, you have probably won everything in sailing.

"It would be a massive result in a sailing career and hopefully open doors for future projects."