Sam
DAVIES

Sam Davies, an engineer by training and a top-level sailor, has made her mark in offshore racing with four Vendée Globe participations and two in The Ocean Race, while also championing the humanitarian cause of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque through the Initiatives-Cœur project.

Born in Portsmouth into a sailing family and an engineering graduate from Cambridge, she took up offshore racing at 24 and settled in France. After the Mini 6.50 and the Figaro, she made her name by finishing 4th in the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe aboard Roxy, then joined Team SCA, the all-female crew of the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race.

After two Transat Jacques Vabre races with Tanguy de Lamotte, she took the helm of Initiatives-Cœur in 2018. In the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe, a collision with an unidentified floating object forced her to retire, but she completed her round-the-world voyage unofficially, helping to save 102 children.

In 2022, she launched a new Initiatives-Cœur. In 2023, she joined Paul Meilhat aboard Biotherm for the Southern Ocean leg of The Ocean Race, then finished 4th in the IMOCA Globe Series.

In 2024, she took 3rd place in The Transat CIC, then 13th in the Vendée Globe. In 2025, she raced the Transat Café L’Or with Violette Dorange, before starting the Course des Caps with a crew.