Sam Goodchild is fourth in the IMOCA class, but the past few days have been torrid ones aboard MACIF Santé Prévoyance. A string of breakages has cost him valuable miles and, for now, his podium place. The Franco-British skipper is refusing to throw in the towel.
Right now, he's going nowhere fast. "At the moment, we're going round in circles. The sun has just come up, there's no wind, and there's no wind forecast for the day. It's going to be a quiet day. At the same time, we can't just leave the autopilot running and let it do whatever it wants, because the wind keeps shifting all over the place. I managed to get some sleep last night. So as soon as there's a bit of pressure, I'll grab a 30-minute nap with alarms set. I need to keep moving in the right direction. We've already lost enough places, we can't afford to lose any more."
The damage list is a long one. The mainsail's clew attachment ripped out a few days ago, forcing Goodchild to sail with a reef in for three days before he could complete a repair. Then on Sunday, crossing a low-pressure system, squalls of more than 40 knots damaged the smaller sails.
He ended up having to climb the rig to free something that had jammed.
"I spent hours and hours trying to avoid going up, but I ended up doing it anyway. It was pretty frightening and it shook me up quite a bit," he said.
Two nights ago, during a big reaching leg when everyone else was flying towards Guadeloupe, a foil problem forced him to stop for an hour. "These last two days have been pretty intense, Sunday especially was really tough. In the end it cost me a few miles and a few places. It's frustrating."
Guadeloupe remains the target. "The wind is going to pick up tonight. It'll start blowing, and today we're just trying to make the most of what we've got. It looks like it'll come from the south, which means I won't gain places, but hopefully I won't lose any either. If the wind decides to swing the other way, then I'll take that too!"
