Sam Davies interview

madforsailing spoke to Maiden II's ever smiling crew member

The most scary moments during the 24 hour attempt were when the boat went 'down the mine' ploughing her bows into a wave causing a massive deceleration.

"It brought back memories of Royal & SunAlliance in the Southern Ocean," says Davies. "It was funny, because I'd just gone off watch and was getting undressed and normally when you go down there there is quite a big space and you can stand up and take your kit off but for some reason there was this one time I went off watch and I could sense something was going to happen and I jammed myself on the steps just next to a small bulkhead and within about two minutes we went down the mine and there were three people all standing up doing what I normally do to take my kit off and they all went flying. It was like a cartoon with Laney [Butler] and Anne [Monmousseau] landing on Rodney [Keenan]. He said it was one of the only times he's had two women on top of him! But they all hurt themselves. Laney has a really sore foot."

The problem is that unlike on a monohull, down below on the big cat you get little idea of what is happening on deck. Another time they went down the mine Davies was in her bunk. "You do the human accordian in your bunk. But what woke me up was all this stuff flying down the hull and I was in the front bunk and it was all Adrienne's stuff from the nav station right at the back. A couple of kit bags came flying past too. Both the computers had made their break for freedom as well, but the only thing which stopped them was where all the comms ports were plugged in. Adrienne hit her head as well. Everyone was okay on deck. And we were only doing 20 knots. That was when we had four hours of current against us."

Davies is one of Edwards' originals from the Royal & SunAlliance crew and has some interesting observations to make about the difference between Maiden II and the old boat - now Tony Bullimore's Team Legato. "It's very similar to Royal & SunAlliance. The boat's is a bit drier because it is higher and bigger, there is no god pod, but it's a whole lot more loaded up. On Royal & SunAlliance we used to bounce the main up by hand, but on this there is 520kg of mainsail with the battens in it so the halyard goes around a winch. It is more pleasant. Down below it is drier and it is better thought out. On Royal & SunAlliance the top speed we got was 33/4 knots down a very big wave and on this boat you frequently do that." The top speed recorded during their 24 hour record on Maiden II was 44 knots.

One of the reasons Davies is enjoying it so much, apart from being a crew on the world's fastest ocean racing yacht, is that she is not running it. "After the last years of doing my own project, that's the good thing of being a crew member - only having responsibility on the sailing side and not on the organisation or management." On board one of her areas of responsibility is the rig.

While in Newport they replaced the standing rigging, but for the time being everything else which is not essential must wait until sponsorship is forthcoming.

A Sunday afternoon stroll? All is relaxed on board, meanwhile Maiden II does 28 knots under main and genniker round the back of the Isle of Wight on Saturday