Return to the Figaro

Sam Davies is to set off on the Transat AG2R La Mondiale this weekend

Sam Davies heads back to sea this weekend co-skippering the Figaro Savéol with boyfriend Roman Attanasio in the Transat AG2R La Mondiale doublehanded race from Concarneau, NW France to St Barts in Caribbean.

“I am looking forward to it,” says Sam. “But I look forward to every Transat I do. It seems ages like I was last properly at sea, even though it was only November [when she and Sydney Gavignet wrestled the beefy Artemis Open 60 across the Atlantic in the Transat Jacques Vabre].

"And it is great to be back in the Figaro. One of the reasons I wanted to do this, wasn’t just to do the race, but to do all the training and to get back into the good habits of the Figarists - fine tuning and trimming, tons of things you just don’t have time to do because its physically just not possible on big boats. Sailing one designs shorthanded in close contact is brilliant and now they have this waypoint in it is going to be even closer than normal.”

The AG2R’s route this year has changed, to incorporate a ten mile long gate between the most northwesterly Canary island of La Palma and a point at 29N 00.00 17W 52.00. This will serve to prevent the monster 1000 mile lateral split across the race course that often happens in such transatlantic races and if it restricts skipper’s freedom in their tactical options it will serve to keep the racing closer. Also Olivier de Kersauson’s ocean-going powerboat is shadowing the race with a TV crew on board and this will allow them a better chance of staying in contact with the majority of the fleet.

So the possibility of taking a northerly option or going to the east of the Canaries are now no longer possible. “It does limit the choices, so it will be a follow the leader a little bit more than your average Transat, but then if you look at the Mini Transat, they used to have a stopover in Lanzarote so it is as if we have a stopover in the Canaries," continues Sam. "There are still options taking you to the Canaries and then afterwards there are options, but definitely there won’t be the huge lateral gap between anyone, as there has been in previous races. But it is the same for everyone else and it is good in a way, because you know you are in a group and if you make a small mistake, you might end up being 18th or 20th, but you are only going to be 10 miles behind the leader, so in that respect for anyone following the race there will be loads of place changes and hopefully we’ll all stay in a group together and everything will be decided in the last three or four days. It will be stressful.”

Sam and Romain have been training on Attansio’s Figaro, newly sponsored by Savéol a collective of 150 tomato growers (read more here), out of the famous Pol Atlantique base in Port la Forêt near Concarneau. “We missed the first training because we were at the Trophée Mer & Montagne, but apart from that we’ve done all the training,” says Sam.

In fact this has not been so exclusive – half of the 25 strong fleet in the Transat AG2R La Mondiale have spent the winter training out of Port la Forêt, for if one of the crew doesn’t operate from there then the other does.

Sam says Sunday’s AG2R prologue spelled out just what a difference this training has made: “There was a windward leg and then a two mile spinnaker reach in 20 knots of wind and we messed up our hoist - just a total beginner’s error - and ended up with a huge twist in the spinnaker. In the end we didn’t want to risk destroying our spinnaker, so we ended up dropping it and the time it took to untwist it all... because the other two kites we have, don’t have Savéol written on them, so we couldn’t hoist them in the prologue! So we ended up losing loads of places and went around the next mark last. Then we were right at the back but it was amazing the difference in speed. We overtook people to leeward on reaching legs, which would never happen in Port la Forêt and we ended up finishing 13th out of 26. We went the right way up the beat, but we have good boat speed - and that’s when you realise you are training with the top end of the Figaro fleet - the level in Port la Forêt is so good that there is no room for error.”

However a disadvantage to the AG2R training this season, Sam reckons, is that there were too many boats, making it hard to do speed testing or two boat tuning. “We split the fleet up into groups and go off and do sail testing, but it is only recently we have managed to do a few days which actually have been useful, because it is so competitive.” It was only towards the end of their training that the Pol Atlantique brought in some external help in the form of the coaches for France’s (very successful) Olympic 470 team.

“That helped, but the more people you have in the squad the harder it is to organise everyone, especially when everyone wants to training every day and everyone always wants to line up with the fastest boat.”

In the Transat Ag2R La Mondiale fleet, Sam reckons that there are 13-15 boats capable of winning, ie just over half the fleet. However of these she particularly rates last year’s Solitaire winner Nicolas Lunven and Figaro/Vendee Globe legend Jean le Cam, but also Jérémie Beyou and Yann Elies. Both Beyou and Elies have lost their IMOCA 60 sponsors and both spent the winter on stand-by in vain for a Banque Populaire Jules Verne Trophy attempt departure that never happened. “So they are desperate to go sailing, because they have been stuck on land for ages and neither have got anything to prove and neither have got a big sponsor putting loads of pressure on them. They get on really well together and they have a great boat and loads of experience.”

On a more personal note Sam also reckons Jeanne Grégoire could do well – she scored her best AG2R result, fifth place, in 2004 with Grégoire, who has recently become a mother. “If Jeanne gets over leaving her daughter behind, which I think is going to be really hard... - at the same time I think she is going to be really desperate to get to the other side to see her daughter again!”

In addition to Sam there are other IMOCA 60 skippers, all of them past Solitaire du Figaro winners from Groupe Bel’s Kito de Pavant, sailing with class veteran Sébastien Audiagne, to Armel le Cleac’h to le Cam. Other potent teams are long term Figaro sailor Gildas Morvan, winner of last year’s Trophee BPE and this time sailing with ex-Vendee Globe skipper Bertrand de Broc, while Nicolas Troussell, the double Solitaire winner is racing with the highly rated Thomas Rouxel.

“We are hoping that we can stay in the top group,” says Sam of how she reckons she and Romain will get on. “We are capable of winning. We seem to have good boat speed and hopefully we will sail a no risk race. I think we have a good chance.”

Won’t it be distracting racing with the boyfriend? Sam thinks not. “Once you are out there you are not really a couple any more, because you don’t have time to think that. And he agrees with that! The most important thing is that you have to get on well with the other person, because it is not just about having two really good sailors. We know each other and there’s no ‘don’t worry I’m not tired.’ You know if you are knackered, we’ll tell each other straight away. In terms of honesty and confidence and trust between us, that is quite good, so that is an advantage.”

However sailing together is a distinct rarity. They raced the Figaro’s Tour de Bretagne in 2005, but otherwise they have stuck to their own campaigns. “In fact in our whole relationship this is the longest time we have ever spent together! Normally one person is out racing and you come home and the other one goes way!”

Sam says they have also found that they don’t sail in exactly the same way, especially on short courses and have a slightly different approach to preparation. It has also prevented them from having the opportunity to switch off when they get home.

Obviously aside from the AG2R, Sam’s big focus at present is in securing herself an IMOCA 60 sponsor and she says her prospects are better than they were a year ago and she is currently in discussions with top potential candidates. However time is rapidly running out if she is to get a new boat built in time for the next Vendee Globe.

In the meantime she has the small matter of the Ag2R to focus upon.