AG2R – 21st April 2012

The AG2R is a gruelling double-handed 3,900 mile race from Concarneau, France to St Barts,Caribbean. This highly competitive French race starts from Concarneau on the 21st April for the 17 entries into the race. This race will see double-handed teams racing across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Caribbean in the one-design 33ft Figaro class.

Sam Goodchild and Nick Cherry are the only current British entries to the race. This duo will be competing on Artemis Offshore Academy Figaro 23, Goodchild’s Figaro for the 2012 season.

The AG2R will see Goodchild and Cherry going up against some seasoned Figaro sailors. This race will lead into the Solitaire du Figaro later in June with most of the AG2R sailors also competing in that race as well.

“I am looking forward to having the chance to race against the French Figaro sailors in this transatlantic race. It is a good opportunity to test our boat speed with them before the Solitaire du Figaro in June,” explained Goodchild. “It will be my sixth Atlantic crossing and the first time I have done it in a Figaro!”

Solitaire du Figaro – 21st June 2012

The Solitaire du Figaro is an annual single-handed race held in multiple stages around the coast of France and Europe in the one-design Figaro Class yachts.  Known for its exceptional levels of competition – boats often finish with just minutes separating them after days of racing – the race is a grueling test of boat-handling, navigation and tactical skills, with little opportunity for the skippers to rest or sleep. Respected as both a proving ground for up-and-coming solo racers (known as ‘Rookies’, or ‘Bizuths’ in French), the race also attracts many experienced legends of the sport.

This year is the 43rd Solitaire du Figaro which will see Sam Goodchild returning and looking to improve his 34th place finish from last year. This year Goodchild will be racing in the main division of the fleet as last year was his ‘Rookie’ year.

Start date: 24th June

Course: Paimpol (FRA) – Gijon (ESP) – St Gilles Croix de Vie (FRA) – Cherbourg (FRA)

Due to a potential clash with the London Olympics the dates of the Solitaire du Figaro have been moved for 2012 and rather than taking place in August, the unofficial world championship of singlehanded offshore racing, will run from 16 June until 15 July.

The 28 year-old Kiwi, Conrad Colman, and 22 year-old, Artemis Offshore Academy sailor Sam Goodchild met just days before the Leg 2 start gun. While both had logged many miles offshore and on Class 40s, their union for Leg 2 produced astonishing speeds – setting the Global Ocean Race Class 40 24-hour record of 359.1 miles.

The start of the race was delayed by two days due to strong winds, which was deja vu for Goodchild after his last race the Transat Jacques Vabre was also delayed due to a huge low pressure system resulting in 50+ knot winds. The six Class 40s finally crossed the start line in Cape Town’s Table Bay at 12:00 Local (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday 29th November. Cessna Citation was first across the line, followed by the Kiwi father-and-son duo of Ross and Campbell Field on BSL (an order that would be repeated at the finish line 30 days later). “Having the start delayed by two days actually gave Conrad and I some valuable time to work on the boat together and for me to familiarise myself with the systems and the equipment onboard” explained Goodchild.

At the end of the first week, the leaderboard ranking continued to change hourly after six days at sea. At the head of the fleet were Cessna Citation and Campagne de France who continued swapping pole position, separated by a handful of miles as the fleet continued descending through the Roaring Forties to the western Indian Ocean Ice Limit at 42S. At the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate mid-Indian Ocean, Cessna Citation crossed in first place and held the lead for the remaining 21 days of racing – an impressive feat for a duo who had never raced together before.

The fleet lead by Goodchild & Colman were then racing into the most remote part of the Indian Ocean, 1,800 miles from the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, and 2,600 miles from Cape Leeuwin at the south-western tip of Australia heading to the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate at 69 degrees East. “The Southern Ocean has a reputation for a reason and being so far from land, some extra consideration is put into your decision making knowing that, in case of a disaster, there really is no way for anyone to help, you are truly on your own” explained Goodchild.

Goodchild and Colman then went on to set the 24-hour record of 359.1nm with an average speed of 15 knots – phenomenal distances for a Class 40. However these speeds were not sustained after entering the Tasman Sea, where light conditions meant the lead could be taken by BSL who were further north. However the duo held the lead through the light winds and over Christmas – for Goodchild there was no roast turkey and had to make do with freeze-dried vegetarian curry!

In the closing stages of Leg 2 in the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR), a harsh lesson was learned on Class40 Cessna Citation through quick thinking; instinct; and training when Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild dealt quickly with a Man Over Board (MOB) off the west coast of South Island, New Zealand. The wind increased quickly from 10 to 30 knots and a quick sail change was required to limit damage to the boat and sails. Goodchild acted quickly from the cuddy where he had been chatting to Colman while eating, and went onto the foredeck to change the head sails. Goodchild has learnt a valuable lesson: “It was a harsh lesson and one I will never forget,” he confirms. “You hear these stories but you brush them aside as it’s a sailors worst nightmare. It only takes a second for something to turn into a big disaster, I’ll be a lot less slack about clipping on in future” he adds.

Goodchild and Colman then went on to win leg two of the Global Ocean Race finishing in Wellington in torrential rain just ahead of a gale. The duo covered the shortest distance of 7,484nm over 30 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes and 40 seconds. For Goodchild it was the longest time he had spent at sea, his previous longest voyage was 17 days as well as being his first Christmas at sea. “I am sure it will not be my last Christmas at sea and next time I race in the Southern Ocean I hope it is in the Vendee Globe – my ultimate sailing goal. This leg has taught me so much in many different lessons, which I will now take into the Figaro circuit for 2012”, reported Goodchild.

There were many highs and lows during the race but for Goodchild there are some very clear moments that stand out. “The best moment of the race for me was, by far, the finish,” reported Goodchild.  ”After a harsh beating going through the cook straits (never mind the previous 7500miles), where we stopped racing and were just in survival-mode, it was a massive relief to bear away into wellington harbour.

The lowest moment at sea was, having broken the spinnaker halyard and gone up the mast in 25knots to ‘re-mouse’ one, we then discovered the mouse line was twisted…”

Looking back on the leg Goodchild summarised: “This has been a very valuable race for me, giving me an insight into sailing in the southern ocean, racing over long distances and managing the balance between endurance and speed. Not to mention my fortunate ‘wake-up call’ as to the seriousness of safety at sea.”

Global Ocean Race leg two stats:

1. Cessna Citation: Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild (NZL/GBR). Akilaria RC2 Class40. Launched 2011. Finish 30/12/2011 08:20:40 UTC. 30d 22h 20m 40s. Av Spd 10.08kts. Dist 7,484nm. Best 24hrs 359.1nm

2. BSL: Ross and Campbell Field (NZL). Tyker 40 Class40. Launched 2008. Finish 31/12/2011 21:38:40 UTC. 32d 11h 38m 40s (Gap to 1st 1d 11h 38m 40s) Av Spd 9.7kts. Dist 7,564nm. Best 24hrs 355.6nm

3. Campagne de France: Halvard Mabire/Miranda Merron (FRA/GBR). Pogo 40S² Class40. Launched 2011. Finish 01/01/2012 06:13:45 UTC. 33d 10h 40m 15s Gap to 1st 2d 12h 19m 35s) Av Spd 9.37kts. Dist 7521nm. Best 24hrs 303.7nm

4. Financial Crisis: Marco Nannini/Paul Peggs (ITA/GBR). First Generation Akilaria Class40. Launched 2008. Finish 02/01/2012 06:13:45 UTC. 33d 20h 13m 45s (Gap to 1st 2d 21h 53m 05s) Av Spd 9.55kts. Dist 7758nm. Best 24hrs 298.3kts

5. Phesheya-Racing: Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire (RSA/RSA). First generation Akilaria Class40. Launched 2007. Finish 04/01/2012 15:14:30 UTC. 36d 06h 53m 50s (Gap to 1st 5d 06h 53m 50s) Av Spd 8.8kts. Dist 7651nm. Best 24hrs 273.2nm

6. Sec. Hayai: Nico Budel/Ruud van Rijsewijk (NDL/NDL). First generation Akilaria Class40. Launched 2008. Dismasted/RTD

I am currently using the relative ‘down-time’ to invest a bit of time and energy into getting some professional help for a sponsorship proposal as well as a new website which, excitingly will be live very soon. The aim is to find partners to complete the 2012 Championship of France and then follow through into 2013 and beyond.

With our Figaros in Lorient

In mid January I was also re-united with my Figaro(#23) which, has seen very little love and action since the Solo Quiberon in September. Nick and I sailed our boats to France and are now about to start our 3rd week of training with the training camp based in Lorient. We have chosen to train in the Atlantic this year as the conditions are much more similar to that of the Solitaire du Figaro, in fact we train on parts of the course on a daily basis. The down side to this is its colder and we are more likely to loose training days to ‘adverse’ weather conditions, thankfully we’ve had no problems yet. Despite being a bit cold, we have had some of the most productive training so far, with a competitive group, currents and waves(unlike the Med) and a couple very expereinced sailors in Yann Elies and Seb Audigane.

Trying to keep warm

We have a very busy 2 months before the start of the AG2R on April 21st. All the preparations involved with doing a transat, while focusing on the key event of the season, Solitaire du Figaro. Along side this, the search to find partners to make sure I can continue progressing towards my competitive Vendee Globe ambitions.

All for now

Sam

Sam Goodchild, Scholarship winner ©
Lloyd Images

As part of the year round training the Artemis Offshore Academy is providing to future British solo stars, there are two Scholarships awarded each year. One for the Mini-Transat and one for ‘La Solitaire du Figaro’ – considered the French pinnacle solo event that both the ‘rookies’ and round the world veterans come back to each year. This Scholarship is designed to give an additional boost to the chosen candidate, providing a fully funded season in a race-prepared Figaro, culminating in the 1695-mile solo challenge in August.

“It’s amazing to get this Scholarship for the Artemis Offshore Academy, it’s everything I could possibly want as a step forward to the Vendée Globe start line, whenever that may be. I am really excited about what there is to come,” said a jubilant Goodchild on hearing the news. “My sailing dream has been to do a Vendée Globe, and the aim of the Artemis Offshore Academy is to make sure that when a British sailor does the Vendée Globe they have the best chance of getting a respectable result. To be the first Brit to win the Vendée Globe would be amazing, Ellen MacArthur came second, which was amazing in itself, but it does leave the door open for there to be a first British winner. I am definitely aiming for that spot in the years to come.”

The Artemis Offshore Academy was created in June 2010 to provide a UK training programme of excellence for British short-handed sailors, providing a structure to bring talented sailors up through the ranks. Designed to help them win major offshore solo and short-handed races in the future, the ultimate goal is to put a British sailor in a strong position to win the Vendée Globe in 2020.

Sam Goodchild successfully joined the Artemis Offshore Academy Development Squad after impressing the judges at the first Selection Trials last September. The nine Development Squad members, that included double Olympic medalist Simon Hiscocks, UK Match Racing champion Nick Cherry, Route de Rhum winner Phil Sharp, have been on an intensive training programme based at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) and at the Centre d’Entrainement Mediterranée (CEM), La Grande Motte based Figaro School (south of France).

Sam Goodchild in action ©
Lloyd Images

The sailors spent long hours training on the water in the five Artemis Figaro boats, and in the classrooms of the CEM, where they specialise in meteorology and race strategy. The squad also worked hard on their fitness, critical to the success of a short-handed sailor, who get little sleep when racing solo.

To qualify for the Scholarship the squad had to fulfil a set of pre-qualification criteria that included:

- A pre-set fitness level
- RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence
- Submit a sponsorship proposal
- Understand basic French to understand weather reports and submit a position report from the water
- Complete a minimum 30-hour solo passage
- Attend a minimum of 75% of the training programme
- Actively participate in social media and providing media content
- Compete in a series of indicator races

The indicator races were staged in February and March this year covering inshore, coastal and offshore courses, the longest being 250 miles offshore.

Selection trials in September 2010 ©
Lloyd Images

The process of selecting the Scholarship winner was not an easy one as Rod Carr, ex-CEO of the Royal Yachting Association who sits on the Academy Advisory Board, explained: “Each squad member had their own strengths and weaknesses and the final decision was a very tough one between three squad members. Sam met all the criteria and was strong enough in all of the areas for us to believe that he will be a strong competitor and embodies the ‘spirit’ to be a great solo sailor. He is a very talented young sailor and highly regarded by the French coaches as a talent for the future. He has proven himself capable of winning and, ultimately, had the right attitude that we believe will take him far.”

It was the Artemis Offshore Academy Advisory Board who sat down to make the final decision: “We were looking for a whole range of abilities, and we were looking at the long-term as well as the need for a well-rounded sailor with potential. Sam has grown up on boats, he has done numerous trans-atlantics and sailed the Pacific. He is very competitive and has raced in the Match Racing Youth Championships and was Youth Match Racing Champion. There was no doubt that he will be able to compete at a higher level,” commented John Thorn, Performance Director at the Academy.

Born in Bristol in 1989, Sam was just two weeks old when he began life at sea, living with his family on a boat in the Caribbean for eight years. He returned to the UK in 1998-99 to attend school in Falmouth before returning to Grenada to live for another five years. The big hurricane of 2005 resulted in Sam returning once again to the UK to attend boarding school in Oxford until 2008 and since then he has been traveling and working for sailing teams, returning to his base in Southampton.

Mike Golding, who has competed in the solo Vendée Globe three times, commented: “I have known Sam for some time now, previously he worked with Mike Golding Yacht Racing during our preparations for the Vendée Globe in 2008 with Ecover so we know him well. It is a great pleasure to now see him selected for the Scholarship. We have tracked his and all the candidates progress and development throughout the Academy training and race events with real interest, Sam’s performance has been exemplary especially when one considers the quality and experience of the other candidates. He is exactly the sort of individual who in years to come could provide the UK with a significant British challenger for the Vendée Globe and the IMOCA World Championship. I will be following his future development with interest”.

Sam will join Development Squad member, Nigel King, and Associate Sailor, Conrad Humphreys, who have both secured funding to campaign their own Figaro boats on the circuit this year, for an intensive training programme in preparation for the Solitaire du Figaro. This trio, supported by the Academy, will be the only Brits competing in the Solitaire du Figaro – considered to be a ‘rite of passage’ on the road to the Vendée Globe.

The remaining members of the Development Squad will continue to train and take part in a series of races throughout 2011, including the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Figaro Tour du Bretagne in September. The Development Squad members and the Artemis Figaro fleet are returning to the UK in May to begin that programme: “The Artemis Offshore Academy is not just about one winner each year. It’s about is laying the foundations and developing British solo sailing talent. So the work of the Academy continues for 2011 and beyond,” concluded Thorn.

Training onboard one of the Academy Figaro’s ©
Lloyd Images

The second round of Selection Trials for new young hopefuls will be held in September 2011 hosted at WPNSA and the opening date for registration is the 2^nd May.

Edward Gorman, former sailing correspondent for The Times, now Deputy Foreign Editor, who sits on the Advisory Board concluded: “The French have dominated solo ocean racing for too long and for good reason… They have put in place the right infrastructure and training facilities to ensure their sailors excel. The Artemis Offshore Academy is the first time that the sport in Britain has taken serious steps to take them on and it’s very exciting that we’ve chosen Sam who we believe has the potential to one day become a great Vendée Globe competitor. It will be thrilling to watch his progress over the following months and years.”

The Academy is sponsored by Artemis, the investment management company, who has been backing British sailing since 2006. Official Partners Musto, Marlow and Pol Roger Champagne and Official Suppliers Spinlock and Nautix also support the Artemis Offshore Academy.

The main reason for this was the last 48hours, from the approach to fair well spit to the finish in Wellington proved to be the hardest bit of the whole leg. What made it so hard was a combination of strong winds, big changes in wind direction and continental plates, resulting in a very confused sea way that could only be described as a witch’s couldren, constantly changing with no pattern. We crashed off waves on an all to regular basis and had a couple of waves I’ll never forget, a wall of breaking white water, towering way above our heads and coming strait for the boat side-on. I had never seen a boats reaction to a wave like this so I let go of the helm at the last second and just clung on as the boat disappeared through the wave and popped out the other side.

Breaking the boat while crashing off the back of one of these waves was the biggest concern. It wasn’t until we turned into Wellington harbour that we finally thought finishing was definite.

The hospitality from everyone in Wellington was fantastic, I have never come across so many kind and helpful people in one place at one time, especially considering it was torrential rainfall at 2300 on a Friday night. Being met on the finish line with a bacon sandwich and being cooked a full Christmas dinner the next day meant there wasn’t much left on my cravings list after the first 24 hours.

A massive thank you to Conrad for inviting me on the trip, the Global Ocean Race organisers, the welcoming of the other competitors, the friends and family supporting us and the Artemis Offshore Academy for making sure we were able to make the best out of this last minute adventure.

Now back to figaro training in preparation for a busy 2012 racing season.

All for now

Sam

Firstly drifting in little to no wind where trying to drag the wide rear end of our 40 foot boat is like an ocean plough, skimming over the water is not an option, more trying to push it around which, is not efficient. Now we are going up wind in 25 knots and horrible short and steep waves along the continental shelf where the depth goes from 700 metres to 150 metres deep in the space of a few miles. Here this boat takes the opposite approach, going airbourne off every wave only to come crashing back down landing on its flat bottom. Inside it is almost defening, like being on the inside of a drum, it makes you cringe, hoping the boat stays in one piece. It was exactly these conditions that caused us to drop out of the Transat Jacques Vabre on this boats sistership, just 2 months ago.

The design is fundamentally a surf board with a sail so, going down waves the speeds are excessive for a  boat its size but, similar to a surfer thta takes 10minutes to paddle through surf for a 20second wave, we take a really long time to go the other way up into waves.

For the first time in 4 weeks we started to see signs off life today, firstly we got mobile signal, only briefly as we passed 35 miles from the coast, we still couldnt see New Zealand but as it was Vadafone NZ, i assume it is there. Then shortly afterwards we got caught by surprise by a close visit from a fishing boat…the only human acitivity weve seen since loosing sight of the southern tip of africa at the end of November.

Our current ETA is midday local time tomorrow, but with an unstable weather condition we can’t be sure yet.

All for now from Sam on the last day at sea aboard Cessna Citation

Sam Goodchild in Christmas spirit!

We had thick fog the whole day with visibility to a couple hundred meters at the best of times. However the bright side was, our 3 day wait for wind finally came to an end as we started covering some decent miles again. And with it we were able to make gains on second place, BSL. By the evening we were slamming upwind in 20-25knots. I spent 15 minutes on the bow doing a sail change with every other wave drenching me from head to toe and the only thing I could think of was it was mid-afternoon in the UK and there were millions of people stuffing their faces on copious amounts of good food that I could only dream about. Jealousy reached an all time high!
Boxing day we spent slamming up wind and pushing hard, spending most of the time hand steering and keep activities to the minimum….eating, sleeping, sailing and a bit of navigating. This was because we expected to be loosing to BSL with the weather situation, thankfully though it seems to have paid off for the moment and we are hanging onto a 150 mile lead.

The wind is now decreasing and the slamming has almost stopped. We are 390 miles form Cook Strait where we finally get to turn right for the 100 mile home strait. Unfortunately the weather is all but simple between here and there, with the potential of the wind disappearing again which, could see our lead cut dramatically like last week. We have done everything but relaxed and will keep pushing to the finish, its definitely not over till we have crossed the finish line, which we hope will be in about 3 days.

All for now from Sam aboard Cessna Citation.

With the wind we have finally stopped loosing miles to BSL who have taken 140miles out of us in 3days while we wallow in frustration. There is nothing I can think on dry land that is as frustrating as being stuck in hole of no wind. Its similar to the classic Hollywood scene of being stuck in the middle of an ice rink with slippery shoes. You go nowhere, the harder you try the worse it gets and frustration only builds, the only solution is to sit and wait. Which is excruciating at the best of times but, when you have every other boat in the fleet going at least 5 times your speed it starts testing your patience.

The last chocolate came out the advent calendar today and as usual it was an anticlimax, why is the last one never something special? A bigger chocolate bar? No just the same old crumb of a chocolate. Possibly made worse in this situation as there is no big roast dinner to look forward to tomorrow. There is a mystery Christmas bag, I am told that it will be special. The suspense to find out how exciting a foil bag of freeze dried food can be is unbearable. The hope lays in the snacks and potentially a bit of biltong otherwise my carnivorous cravings are in danger of becoming hazardous.

We now have less than 1000miles to go till Wellington and we are pushing hard to get there in front of BSL who are 130miles to our north-west and if we are lucky maybe catch a few of the Christmas dinner left overs. The closer we get to land the more I start to think of things I miss the most. You may have guessed but any sort of fresh meat is at the top of my list, a big steak, burger, rack of lamb…you name it ill eat it. This is closely followed by some fresh salad, a shower, some clean clothes, a leisurely toilet visit, a catch up on the worlds happenings and a flight home to try and catch up on this short notice 5 weeks away.

The tinsel and Santa hat is out as we prepare for our Christmas at sea. Merry Christmas to every back on dry land, feel free to drink and eat even more in our favour.

All for now from Sam aboard Cessna Citation.
Merry Christmas

Even though we have been expecting this compression for the last 10 days its is hard ot pick up every postion report and watch our lead diminish to a mere 100 miles after our 230 mile lead only 2 days ago.

The weather situation is pretty complicated and we pick up a new file atleast every 12hours. We are struggling to see much consistency, with our arrival date changing by days with each grib. I am starting to think that the files are coming from an art class somewhere and not a weather centre. Every 12 hours there is a drawing competition for the tasman sea, a few pretty lines for isobars, skattered arrows, a splash of colour and bingo…a weather file. This evening we sailed into a hole of nothing, forecast as 7knots on the grib, we spent 4hours with 0.00 on our speed dial. After getting the 24 hour speed record we’re now aiming fo rthe 24 hour slow record. We debated not picking up thr position report but we did, and it was painful…we’d lost 43miles to second place in the space of 6hours. It is inevitable we will continue to loose miles as we are the first to sail into lighter winds but, we are pushing hard to minimise the losses and with 1200 miles still to go it is a loooooong way from over.

As we sail east, we are rapidly travelling through time zones, 11 in all by the time we reach auckland, this means that sunrise and sunset are never at the same time form day to day. Onboard, to save confusion, we never change our clocks. An ongoing debat onboard is which meal to eat when? Currently the sun goes down for us at about 1130 and then rises again at about 1700. When is breakfast and when is dinner? Do we eat our porridge when the sun comes up or our savoury (normally-missing-a-bit-of-meat) meal because it is dinner time? Fundamentally there is not problem, you eat when your hungary but, after eating a curry at sunrise this morning I realise it does screw with your head a bit.

All for now from sam, wallowing in the Southern Ocean somewhere aboard Cessna Citation.

Yesterday was a horrible day, with a high frequency of rain squalls and a continuosly changing wind, we spent alot of time changeing sails and trying to minimise damage as the wind fluctuated between 12knots and 48knots for most of the day. We settled into a little more of a grove last night, with the small spinnaker up and building breeze we were able to eat up a few more miles.

On the Contrary, today was one of those days where I realised why Im sitting here at 50degrees south, smelling like a drowned rat, having not had a shower or changed clothes for 3 weeks, partly damp, blooding cold and still enjoying it.

As the sun came up the wind started to build and we changed from our small spinnaker to the more robust reacher as a ’chicken shoot’. We spent the following 12hours semi-submerged averaging 16-17knots, with surfs of 26knots. Every wave came over the boat like a torrential wall of water, we regularly lost sight of the front of the boat and occasionally our own limbs. There was one wave that I wont forget for a long time. We took off on a almighty surf and barreled into the back of the following wave, the expected wall of water came flying down the deck so, I grabbed hold of the boat and turned my head to cover my face. This wave had slightly different intentions though, it picked me up like a rag doll and dropped me in the back of the cockpit wrapped round the main sheet traveller. as I got back up and reorientated myself, i was surprised to find the boat, not spun into the wind with sails flapping, but in fact having ploughed through the wave it had then taken off on another surf at 20-knots…we carried on as before. Makes me think of and appreciate Halvards’ ‘Young and Fearless’ Stupid comments from yesterday, but by god its fun.

We re now back in some more civilised conditions and reaching at 14/15knots with our bow pointed at New Zealand. The tracker of our nearest rivals, BSL, frustratingly spent the last 24hours being unreliable which, almost caused ours to find some problems but, they are back in our sights now and we can keep a close on eye on them and hopefully not let them get too far away.

All for now form Sam aboard Cessna Citation