Sam Goodchild’s arrival at the dock at Lorient La Base at around 0145hrs local time was relaxed and personable. He was quick to get off his IMOCA For The Planet and see his young family on the pontoon but share hugs and moments with his friends, peers, sponsors and supporters, past and present and race management.

How was it Sam?

I am happy to be here, happy it is over. It has been nine very, very intense days. I don’t think there has been a dry moment on the deck, these are technically difficult boats to keep going, and trying to get the balance right. They have much more power than we can manage, it is so hard to know where to set the throttle at, where you set the cursor.
I am happy with third, I feel like I have been saying that all year though, but this is one is nice to be third in because it is more of a boost to my self confidence that I can do it without Antoine (Koch co-skipper) and Thomas (Ruyant). Obviously they helped a lot getting me here, but it is great.

And what about winning the IMOCA Globe Series?

Well I guess I have been doing too much sailing! But it has been a really big year, from my first IMOCA race ever in January leaving fully crewed on Holcim PRB in January to where we are today, it has been such a big year.

Which part of these experiences has contributed most to your success?

I think everything has contributed to this today, sailing Holcim PRB with Kevin and learning the boats with that group was great and then sailing double handed with Antoine who designed the other boats, it has been kind of a perfect progression. 

And what about in terms of solo experience looking ahead to the Vendée Globe, were there points when you were thinking ‘how can we sustain this for a month in the big south?

I don’t know how we held that pace up for a week, far less a month in the south, it is so intense you can see here the difference between sailing double handed and solo, the intensity you can maintain you are going a little bit slower, but doing that for two and a half months does seem kind of impossible.

What was the useful learning?

I learned a few things the right way, or the wrong way…I struggled with sleep and I struggled eating, which I never had trouble with before, I never struggle to eat but the boat is moving around so much that preparing food is difficult so you end up not preparing enough and not eating enough. These are small problems to have and good problems because there are solutions.

And any strategic regrets, do you now wish you had gone with Yoann Richomme when he broke north?

I remember when I watched Yoann going north and he went into a ‘go low’ mode (on starboard gybe) and I was in a ‘go high mode’ and I don’t think it would have changed much, he definitely has a boat which is much faster in these conditions, and I was happy to stay out of these conditions. I don’t know it would have made much of a difference in terms of the result. Maybe I would have been closer to him, I don’t know….And Jéremie? I think he was just happy to have me pushing him from 20 miles behind, I sped up he sped up….he was just toying with me, making me feel I had a chance!