Sam Goodchild, the most “Frenchy” of English sailors

The sea is its medium. Sam Goodchild fell into sailing from birth. Baptized in salt water, he was only a few months old when his parents took him on board the family sailboat, a wooden monohull about 10 meters in length. The space is cramped to accommodate four people. The card table converts at bedtime into a spare bed for Sam, with nets on the sides to prevent falling. They will sail for seven years in the West Indies, before returning to England, their country of origin. A short-lived experience. The family first settled in the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago located in the Celtic Sea known for its many storms. Six months pass before they move to Falmouth, a port town in the far south of Cornwall.

They have been living on land for a year and a half, but the call of the sea is being felt. The Goodchilds board a new boat, about 13 meters this time. They drop anchor in Grenada, less than 150 kilometers from the coast of Venezuela. On September 7, 2004, Hurricane Ivan devastated the island. His school is swept by gusts reaching 215 km / h. Sam then leaves for England after a short stay in Antigua. During the return crossing, he spotted a magazine on the Vendée Globe in his dad’s belongings. He reads the epics of this fifth edition of “The Everest of the Seas”, in which Conrad Humphreys, a British navigator, participates. He is 14 years old and discovers the profession of skipper. Revelation. “I announced to my parents that I knew what I wanted to do later, he enthuses. They still asked me to finish my studies before embarking on ocean racing. This passion stems from the discovery of sailing on the family boat. This big guy of 1.90 meters for 90 kilos starts the competition late but is no less talented. He joined the British Keelboat Academy. And thus meets Alex Thomson. The Welshman offers him to do the Transpacific on his VOR 60, a 19.50 meter racing sailboat. On his return from sailing, and under the advice of his mentor, Sam surfs the internet in search of information on the Solitaire du Figaro.

This race which surveys the Bay of Biscay in all directions, touches the pebbles of Brittany, Galicia, etc., is considered the best of formations. At 18, the young sailor renewed his experience with Alex Thomson for the preparation of his Vendée Globe 2008. He then joined the project of Mike Golding, another offshore racing legend, on the same event. A chance for this novice who has been able to multiply the thankless tasks, thus allowing him to take the mythical channel of Les Sables-d’Olonne. Seeing the massed crowd, he remembers his navigations in the West Indies three years earlier, dreaming of one day surveying the “Champs-Élysées of sailors” as skipper of his own project.

“I slowly learned the trade”

Little by little in navigation, Sam manages to make a hole for himself in this small environment that is offshore racing. This Englishman, established in Brittany for the love of boats, arrived in France in 2011 thanks to Artemis Offshore Academy. “They made a selection of eight inexperienced skippers. And have chosen all the profiles, he explains in almost perfect French. At the start, they gave me a budget, a boat, new sails, etc., the objective was for me to succeed in my transition to autonomy.” He tries out the Solitaire du Figaro. The results are not there. This passionate jack-of-all-trades, likes to learn and vary the supports. In 2014, Michel Desjoyeaux asked him to be part of the Volvo Ocean Race crew. He therefore seized the opportunity of this crewed round the world race. Still, the adventure is cut short. Sam disembarks at the end of the first stage in Cape Town. The young navigator with the affable smile doubts.

In 2018, during the eleventh edition of the Route du Rhum, his boat dismasted after three days of sailing. “I had never prepared so well for a race. I had done everything I could to win. And if I had to do it again, I would do the same thing. It’s life, it’s sport, ”puts the future dad into perspective. He bounces back. Advance. Equally at ease with a crew or single-handed, Sam multiplies multihull sailing. He is trying to beat the Jules Verne Trophy record aboard the maxi-trimaran Spindrift. Rebelote in 2020, on Sodebo Ultim3 with Thomas Coville. “I slowly learned the trade. And I still have a lot to learn,” he adds. Sam goes from one pontoon to another. He joined the Leyton team in 2019 and finished second in the Transat Jacques Vabre in Class40. Then sets out again to make his weapons in Figaro. “My 2020 season went very well, he explains. It gave me back my confidence. I needed this after the dismasting of my boat.

“I am lucky to be surrounded by a very involved and passionate team”

With the leitmotif: “Better never stops”, “better never stop”, Sam is embarking on a new format and a new circuit in Ocean Fifty – a demanding trimaran of around 15 meters in length. Now skipper of his boat at 32, he continues the adventure with Leyton with his teammates. “I am lucky to be surrounded by a very involved and passionate team. We are five and we are all essential to the proper functioning of the Team. As proof, in 2021 they won the Pro Sailing Tour, a sailing racing circuit, mixing both Inshore and Offshore, dedicated exclusively to these exceptional multihulls. The first episode of season 2 took place in mid-May in the mouths of Bonifacio. Clear waters surrounded by steep white limestone cliffs. The old town, protected by its citadel, overlooked the seven competing boats. Leyton finished second in the provisional standings.

Next meeting on June 22 in Brest, a hundred kilometers from Sam’s home port. Based in Ploemeur, in Morbihan, with his partner Julie, there are neither holidays nor weekends where the navigator does not think not to his passion. On the water between 150 and 200 days a year, Julie follows him wherever he goes. For the time being, Sam has already raced transatlantic races, never a solo circumnavigation. In his sights, a new odyssey: the Vendée Globe, the race of all superlatives. Certainly the most demanding on the planet. But before storming the roaring forties, Sam will set off from Saint-Malo on November 6 for the Route du Rhum, the most famous of the solo transatlantic races.