To win you have to finish. That is the main philosophy. … My main objective is to just pace myself along with Boris, Kevin and Isa. I am looking forwards to that battle with those amazing sailors.

Sam Davies is racing for a spot on the Vende Globe podium, as well as for a noble cause – to raise money for children with heart defects. Davies’ corporate sponsors are donating the advertising space they purchased on her boat to the French charity Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. The organization transports children with heart defects from disadvantaged countries to France for lifesaving surgery.

Davies is in a rare position for any sailor – she has a well-funded campaign that serves a good cause. This results partly from her deep resume, which includes seven transatlantics; three Solitaire du Figaro’s – France’s fierce sailing counterpart to the Tour du France; the 2014 Volvo Ocean Race; the 2018 Bermudes 1000; and her first place finish on a catamaran in the 2018 Drheam Cup.

Not to mention two Vendee Globes. In her first appearance, Davies missed the podium by one spot in the 2008-09 edition, finishing fourth. The comeback planned in 2012-13 fell short, when her boat was dismasted by an Atlantic gale. This was her second dismasting, following one on the Southern Ocean during the while crewing for the female sailing pioneer Tracy Edwards 1998 Jules Verne Record. Edwards had assembled the first female team to compete in the 1989-89 edition of the predecessor of the Vendee Globe, the Whitbread Round the World.