After a violent collision with a UFO last Wednesday evening (December 2, 2020), Samantha Davies noticed significant damage to the keel of her IMOCA Heart Initiatives. After diverting to Cape Town, she officially announced her retirement from the race on the morning of Saturday 5th December.
Shocked by what happened to her, she first questioned her desire to revive. But calling herself an adventuress, passionate about the sea and the oceans, she will go back out of the race if her boat can be repaired.
Interview
"In an hour I'll be in Cape Town. I'm relieved to arrive after what happened to me.
Unfortunately I can't repair it on my own, there's too much damage, especially in the keel, we have to get the boat out of the water. I have to abandon the Vendée Globe.
Honestly, given the violence of the impact and the hardness of what I hit - I don't know what it was, I was at 20 knots - and as the impact occurred at the bottom of the keel, it had a huge leverage effect. I knew that even if I could fix what was visible - and already I'm not sure I could have done it well enough to have confidence in the structure - there were other invisible parts that you couldn't check without disassembling.
In the bearings, in the bottom of the hull, in the jack, in the keel itself... I could look underwater at the keel sail and I saw that there was a huge hole. If I didn't treat it, it would have vibrated at high speed. The list is huge and there are all the unknowns. Out of all the Vendée Globe races I've followed before, those that tried to set off again, ended up giving up all the same.
It's too dangerous to go into the South Seas with all these strangers. We really have to inspect everything. I think that this is also the magic of the Vendée Globe: the race stops, but I hope the adventure doesn't stop. I've always said that my mission was to sail around the world on this boat. For me, but also for Initiatives-C?ur, for sponsorship for heart surgery. If I can get the boat back in shape and set sail again, I'm motivated to do so. That's the positive side of the story, I still have a mast, I still have my keel! I've got all the parts, I've got a great team. It's going to take some time, it's a big job, but I'm still positive that I'm going to give it a try, as Isabelle Autissier did. I think it's a very good example, to try to keep going anyway.
If the boat is repairable, I'm determined to get back out of the race. That's my philosophy and that of the team. The Vendée Globe is a huge adventure. I've always had a lot of respect for those who have finished out of the race. Isabelle Autisier, but also Enda (editor's note: O'Coineen), I think he was the last person to do that, long after Nick Moloney following a keel accident, who finished out of the race a year later. I have a lot of respect for that, I think it's part of the adventure. If I can be one of those adventurers, I will be, even if it's not easy because I'm a competitor with a great boat. I'm also an adventurer, passionate about the sea, the oceans, and I want to save children with Heart Initiatives.
Everybody knows by leaving that kind of thing can happen. And I've already dismasted in the Vendée Globe. On the other hand, three days ago when it happened to me, I thought I was going to die, but once I managed the crisis, I thought I was going to stop sailing. I said to myself: "That's crazy, that's nonsense, I'm giving up sailing, I'm not doing that any more.
But it's the hazards of racing, it's the adventure. If I can manage to start again and continue with this great project... I've scared myself so much that I have to start again quickly, otherwise I'll find it difficult to start again. If we manage to go back, I'll be scared to death that it'll happen again. I don't think I'm going to go very fast, but I need to go back to rebuild myself after something like this.
I'm not the only one to arrive in Cape Town, I'm in contact with Seb Simon, I think we're going to cry together tonight with a beer. I've got a big thought for him giving up on the same problem. It's bad luck, he had a great race. And a second thought for Isa Joschke. When I hit my UFO I was at a standstill, in complete disarray, I had collision alarms go off, it was Isa Joschke coming right at me, it was a second scare, I was afraid she wouldn't see me. I had a bit of a stressful exchange with her to get her to avoid me! I'm really happy for her because she's having a great race. We were really close to each other, she made a good comeback, I'm happy because she's one of my fellow regatta sailors normally. Come on, Isa, I'm right behind you!"
