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THEIR RACE IN NUMBERS
Local finish time: 12h 55min 47sec (16h 55min 47sec UTC)
Race time: 12 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes, and 47 seconds
Gap to the leader: 7h 40mn 29sec
Distance covered: 5 579.74 miles
Average speed (on the great circle route): 14.70 knots
Average speed (actual): 19.15 knots
THEIR RACE IN BRIEF
They started with high expectations, Goodchild and Berrhear realistically hoping to carry on the winning record of the boat and its skipper Charlie Dalin who has taken a step back from ocean racing to prioritise his health and wellbeing. But although they sailed an accomplished race, leading for some of the time, they could not match the speed of the newly optimised Charal, which has stepped up its performance with new rudders, and then yesterday dropped behind 11th Hour Racing to take third.
British Sam Goodchild and his French counterpart Loïs Berrehar have many things in common, not least cutting their teeth on the Figaro circuit and both are now going ahead to have new IMOCAs for the next Vendee Globe. On land they prefer to shun the limelight as quiet, discrete sailors. But together as a unit they are tough and excllent allrounders at sea.
Aboard the IMOCA on which Charlie Dalin won the Vendée Globe, they already won the Course des Caps race before competing in two different teams in The Ocean Race Europe (Biotherm for Sam, Malizia for Loïs).
Without doubt they had to deal with the added expectations attached to racing Dalin's boat from the Vendee Globe winner's home city, as well as their considered status as favourites. But on the race course all was forgotten and they gave a great account of themselves, leading across the Bay of Biscay on Berrehar's birthday.
And they stayed in the leading pack until the finish, overhuled by the super fast race winners Charal as the trade winds finally built near the African coast they held a good second place until they were passed by 11th Hour Racing during the final 24 hours of the race.
IMOCA Globe Series Champion of 2023 Goodchild was happy and objective about their third place admitting they were beaten by two teams which sailed better and faster, particularly pointing to the speed of winners Charal which this year has been optimised to win this race. But he was mostly looking forwards to using what he and Berrehar learned, not least about the sail set ups and configurations trade winds downwind and reaching conditions.
Goodchild recalled, “The last few days have been particularly intense, when you have boats around you which start overtaking you it adds a whole new level of stress to it, a couple of days ago I went through a bit of a down moment, losing places, but turning up here in third place, even if we have been used to winning the rest of the year, it is a good result, I am happy with it, I learned a lot, learned a lot from sailing with Lois. We learned a lot, had a good time and so lots of things to do better next time. Overall the feedback is very positive.”
He added, “In fact it has been great to learn so much, in 12 days we ‘ve done a week of downwind sailing which otherwise you might need to do 14 days of upwind to get. And in the ‘game of sails’ this race is so very different to the Vendée Globe, but it is very useful learning for next time whether that is me, or me with Charlie, I can do it with him, but it if good learning to take forwards.
He concluded, “We set the bar high before setting off, but the two teams ahead of us sailed very well. The overall result is very positive, and it was great to share this with Loïs. We could set off on another transatlantic race together tomorrow!”
Berrehar, who has his own Vendée Globe project with a new boat in Banque Populaire colours, reflected, “I'm very happy to be here, to have arrived, and to have shared this adventure with Sam. I thank him very much because I learned so much from him during this transatlantic race. My first podium finish in an IMOCA in this race—I'm really happy. We'll be competitors soon, but I realize how lucky I am to have done this race on this great boat with this fantastic sailor!"
* before jury
Photos comming soon on the web site.