Out of the 13 IMOCA Imoca #IMOCA boats that started The Artemis Transat on Sunday, 11th May, only three Britons made the start line after Mike Golding, Brian Thompson and Jonny Malbon were forced, for different reasons, to withdraw from this famous solo transatlantic race at the last minute. Samantha Davies, Dee Caffari (Aviva) and Steve White (Spirit of Weymouth) were the only competing British competitors, and Davies has put in a fantastic solo performance to bring home Roxy in 5th place. Compared to the four IMOCA Imoca #IMOCA boats that have already completed the 2982-mile course, Davies was racing an older generation, if albeit famous, IMOCA boat. Roxy is the ex-PRB that won the last two editions of the solo Vendée Globe, and Davies performance in The Artemis Transat has reinforced her place in the premier league of offshore solo sailing.

Davies started The Artemis Transat in daunting circumstances having lost the use of her radar on the first night. A trip up the mast on day 4 of the race confirmed there was no chance of repairing the radar as the waterproof sealant had decayed allowing water to corrode the elements, at that point Davies knew she would be ’sailing blind’ unable to identify shipping or the threat of icebergs on the other side of the Atlantic. Undeterred Davies raced on handling the diverse weather conditions of the North Atlantic from frustrating patches of no wind to full-on 40 knots of wind, and working her way into 5th place behind the leading pack of the latest generation IMOCA 60s.

On day 11 her race could have ended after a collision with a whale : "It was really scary as I have never hit anything before. I checked the keel immediately and everything seemed fine. Back on deck, I pulled my daggerboard up to check it and realized that it was damaged and cracked. Now I can’t put it all the way down, so I have to use only half of it. The crash freaked me out a bit, and for the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about hitting something. So that night I sailed a bit nervously and reefed down sooner than usual, as Roxy was doing speeds of 18+ knots and it was all a bit much." Davies knew she had had a lucky escape - race leader Michel Desjoyeaux had sustained far more serious damage to his daggerboard that forced him to retire a few days earlier. The incident had lost Davies two places but she was determined to get back in the race : "So, a new day is here, Roxy is speeding along upwind in 25 knots of wind and I have a new challenge - to try to get back past Cali (Akena Veranda) and Yannick (Cervin ENR), who actually aren’t too far ahead of me. I have gone from being the hunted to being the hunter and I’m going to do all I can to catch them !"

Twenty-four hours later, Davies had done just that and was back in 5th place and an intense battle with Bestaven (Cervin ENR) and Boissieres (Akena Vérandas) ensued. But Davies held her nerve through to the end. Her exemplary seamanship, tactical decisions and doggedness have paid high dividends for a sailor that is proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

From Samantha Davies dockside at Rowes Wharf, Boston Harbor Hotel, USA : "I’m really happy to be first of the old boats. It was a bit frustrating as we were stuck in high pressure (no wind) system for the last couple of days. The competion between the old boats was really intense but I was not going to let them go, they were not going to pass. And fortunately the conditions at this time suited Roxy more than the other 2 boats, so I managed to sail faster and past again. There is a good race going on out there still"

"My worst moment in this race was the night where I hit a whale, quite hard, doing 13 knots. Luckily the damage to my daggerboard was quite localised, but as a result I didn’t do very well during the 24 hours following the incident. I was thinking : What if I hit something else ? What if I damage the keel ??? It makes you think back to reality and realise sometimes what we do is quite dangerous. It was the only night I didn’t enjoy."

Davies impresses her rivals with her racing skills : Samantha has been displaying an impressive amount of consistency and perseverance since 2001, the year she managed to capture the 11th place in the Mini Transat. Moving on after this first important step, the young Briton competed in top-level events in various classes, often sailing alongside some of the prominent Anglo-Saxon skippers like Shirley Robertson (Olympic preparation), Nick Moloney (Transat Jacques Vabre Transat Jacques Vabre #TJV2015 ) or Tracy Edwards (Maiden II records campaign). Sam has also been a member of Ellen MacArthur’s Offshore Challenges Sailing Team, skippering the Skandia Figaro - on this very demanding solo One-Design circuit, she impressed her rivals with her boating skills and stamina. But Sam has also acquired valuable academic credentials, having notably completed a Master in Engineering at Cambridge University shortly before switching to a professional sailing career.