After racing non-stop for 34 hours and 38 minutes, Falmouth's Sam Goodchild finished his first solo sailing race of the season, the Solo Arrimer in France late on Friday night.
Sam, 23, crossed the line in an excellent 11th place out of a fleet of 26 boats, the first of five British sailors to finish.
He was also 11 minutes ahead of offshore sailing legend, Michel Desjoyeaux, the only sailor to win the famous Vendee Globe race twice.
Speaking after the race Sam said: "The race was a lot of fun but at the same time incredibly challenging. We had some of the worst weather conditions I have ever seen in a race.
"There was a period of 12hours when the wind was over 35knots and regularly gusting over 40. The waves were a constant wall of water trying to wash us off our boats, we got a thorough thrashing. I'm really happy about the race, I put up a good fight and it's encouraging to know I'm not too far off the pace."
The route took the sailors from Les Sables d'Olonne up along the West coast of France and back to Les Sables. Sam was racing on his boat 'Shelterbox', he has been a supporter of the Cornish charity for some time now and was delighted to be able to help raise awareness of the disaster relief charity and the work they do. Sam is now looking ahead to his next race of the season, the Solo Concarneau at the beginning of May and there are a few things he'll take from this experience.
Sam added: "There were a few key places where I lost miles that I could improve on and the importance of managing my self in 'extreme' conditions was majorly highlighted on the first night. I found the night sailing extremely difficult - despite having eight layers of clothing on, I got cold.
"This really affected my concentration which made it difficult to stay focussed on going fast. It tired me out pretty quickly but I managed the whole race on a total of an hour's sleep up on deck."
This race is a very encouraging start to the season for Sam, a graduate of the Artemis Offshore Academy. He's now hoping he can build on this result in the main race of the season, the month-long Solitaire du Figaro in June.
Sam, 23, crossed the line in an excellent 11th place out of a fleet of 26 boats, the first of five British sailors to finish.
He was also 11 minutes ahead of offshore sailing legend, Michel Desjoyeaux, the only sailor to win the famous Vendee Globe race twice.
Speaking after the race Sam said: "The race was a lot of fun but at the same time incredibly challenging. We had some of the worst weather conditions I have ever seen in a race.
"There was a period of 12hours when the wind was over 35knots and regularly gusting over 40. The waves were a constant wall of water trying to wash us off our boats, we got a thorough thrashing. I'm really happy about the race, I put up a good fight and it's encouraging to know I'm not too far off the pace."
The route took the sailors from Les Sables d'Olonne up along the West coast of France and back to Les Sables. Sam was racing on his boat 'Shelterbox', he has been a supporter of the Cornish charity for some time now and was delighted to be able to help raise awareness of the disaster relief charity and the work they do. Sam is now looking ahead to his next race of the season, the Solo Concarneau at the beginning of May and there are a few things he'll take from this experience.
Sam added: "There were a few key places where I lost miles that I could improve on and the importance of managing my self in 'extreme' conditions was majorly highlighted on the first night. I found the night sailing extremely difficult - despite having eight layers of clothing on, I got cold.
"This really affected my concentration which made it difficult to stay focussed on going fast. It tired me out pretty quickly but I managed the whole race on a total of an hour's sleep up on deck."
This race is a very encouraging start to the season for Sam, a graduate of the Artemis Offshore Academy. He's now hoping he can build on this result in the main race of the season, the month-long Solitaire du Figaro in June.
