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GOODCHILD Sam - MACIF SANTÉ PRÉVOYANCE

Sam Goodchild, “I like the idea of winning.”

IMOCA
Village départ Le Havre  |  18 October 2025 - 17h46
British skipper Sam Goodchild is back where his ocean racing career really began. In Le Havre in 2011 as co-skipper of a Class40 he was a fresh faced 17 year old with a head if full of ideas and ambitions. He has had his fair share of triumphs and disappointments over the years. Some of the highs and lows have been compressed into the same race such as during last winter’s Vendée Globe solo round the world race which he lead but struggled the final miles after ripping his mainsail in half, but overall Goodchild’s career to date has followed logical steps

But, as the 35-year-old French based, Bristol-born sailor notes, when he starts the Transat Café L’Or next Sunday this really will be the first time he will be racing a latest generation IMOCA, one which is a proven winner, on which he and French co-skipper Lois Berrehar have every chance of IMOCA victory on this famous two handed race to Martinique.

Due to the illness of Vendée Globe winning skipper, French sailing hero Charlie Dalin, Goodchild was drafted in to the MACIF team to skipper Dalin’s IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance and will now be skipper of the team’s new IMOCA which is being launched for the next Vendée Globe. 

Goodchild knows the course well, not least how close and intense the racing is likely to be in the IMOCA class. The last edition in 2023 saw the IMOCA podium decided by less than two hours, Goodchild and co-skipper Antoine Koch missing out on second by less than ten minutes after a dawn drift off into the finish line at Fort-de-France. 

Interview : Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar - Macif Santé Prévoyance

 

Pressure?

“There is a bit of pressure this time as it really is the first time for me to be on a boat which, on paper, has the potential to win it. So that adds a bit of pressure but we have had a good start to the season. This is a good team with a good boat and I’m just trying to keep it simple.” Says the Goodchild in the enclosed cockpit of MACIF Santé Prévoyance. 

He has had a good season so far winning the Course de Caps crewed IMOCA race on this boat. He is settling in well to environment of a team which has now won the Vendée Globe twice from two starts and of course holds the solo non stop all comers round the world record. 

2025_MACIF Sam GOODCHILD

Goodchild smiles, “I have new people around me but they have so much experience with the boat and you see such attention to detail which is impressive and of course they are coming off winning the Vendée Globe with a skipper who has his problems. It has not been easy for them.” 

Dalin’s fight with cancer was detailed extensively earlier last week in the French media just before Goodchild was confirmed as MACIF’s longer term choice. 

“This situation with Charlie isn’t the best situation to do this in but they have to ask someone and I am happy they asked me. It was not a big decision to make. When MACIF call you and ask you to come sail the boat you don’t say no!” he responds

Dalin, who is from Le Havre is missed around the docks here, but he has remained in touch with the team when required. Goodchild says “He is there when we need him, if we have questions he is there and answers. But now we leave him with the space and time to deal with his priorities at the moment. He is primarily helping with the new boat, we did have a bunch of questions about this race as he has so much experience of it, and now just over a week before the start we leave him alone. He is there if we need him. We are in final checks now, but he might join us for some final weather briefings with Simon Fisher and have his input.” 

Solid mindset 

Goodchild says that despite the heightened expectations he trying to stick to his same metal outlook, “I try not to let my mindset change. Obviously it does because here I am on a boat capable of winning and there is no excuse not to. But I have tried to not let that affect how I do things, I found the way I perform the best is when I am comfortable and confident in the place I am in. I think if you start to complicate things and overthink things then that is when you make it more difficult for yourself. So there is a fine balance. But, of course, neither can you sit still either.” 

He adds, “I like the idea of winning….Lois and I love racing and trying to go faster than the boats next to us we are here to do that. And the MACIF team,  since they have existed with François Gabart, Mer Concept too, winning is the aim.” 

2025 MACIF Sam GOODCHILD

And Dalin’s boat is four years newer than the IMOCA Goodchild raced to ninth on the last Vendée Globe, “It is an evolution not a revolution. The foils are much more powerful, they push harder and they pick up better, the boat takes off earlier and the average speeds will be much higher. Reaching when it is really strong, upwind it is good. Basically it is bad nowhere and very strong reaching.” 

“There are a few choices to make when it comes to sails, the sail programme is very different to what I had in the Vendée Globe and I am here after the sails are ordered for this race so there is some adapting to do.”

He has now had time to learn how best to sail to his strengths and to those of co-skipper Berrehar. “Lois is great he has the added ‘carrot’ if you like that he has a brand new IMOCA waiting for him with Banque Populaire next year, and he knows this boat well as he was Charlie’s replacement skipper last year. And we have fairly similar temperaments and ideas in terms of doing things the same way. We are both single handed sailors so we are good allrounders. We have managed to find a way of communicating together which is respectful, we want to make the most of each other. When I turned up he was the one who knew the boat, the team, the sponsor the best and little by little it has transferred to me who has more IMOCA experience and who is coming off the back of the Vendée Globe. So we have been finding that crossover of respect for each other. We are both having new boats for the next Vendée Globe but right now we need to share all we can to win the Transat Café L’Or. We push each other, we keep each other on our toes and make sure we are both working in the right direction and understand each other.” 

2025 MACIF IMOCA