Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe: A transatlantic steeped in tension for Sam Goodchild & Leyton

by Leyton Sailing Team 28 Oct 2022 02:25 NZDT 6 November 2022

Leyton Sailing Team © Eloi Stichelbaut / polaRYSE / Leyton Sailing Team

Skittish, impulsive, demanding; there is no shortage of adjectives for describing the 8 Ocean Fiftys competing in the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe.

An experienced monohull and maxi-multihull sailor, the skipper of Leyton has had to be patient and avoid cutting corners in a bid to tame his Ocean Fifty over the past two seasons and be ready to cross the start line singlehanded on 6 November 2022 off Saint-Malo. Now, just days away from the launch of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, his approach to the race is coloured by eagerness and confidence.

Two seasons for learning

To tame his boat, Sam Goodchild has used a step-by-step approach, initially sailing in fully crewed configuration and then double-handed. "You have to get to know the limits calmly and have the right people around you," explains the skipper of Leyton.

"You can't just go out on the water singlehanded and see what happens. It's not the type of boat you can capsize on and then be out racing again the next day! With these boats, if you capsize, it's a real problem. I fairly quickly felt able to sail the boat alone, but not necessarily in race format, where you're pushing the envelope and trying to go faster than your playmates."

Equipped with 3 hulls and measuring 15m long and 15m wide, the Ocean Fiftys are short and light boats. They can post very fast speeds and the skipper has to be constantly on the alert to avoid making mistakes. When racing, once the fatigue has set in, a few seconds lapse of concentration can cost very dear and cause you to career off the racetrack. Crossing the Atlantic aboard these boats is an exceptional challenge, which only a few sailors are capable of pulling off given the extremely skilled piloting required by these multihulls.

"On trimarans, there's no ballast like there is on monohulls (the keel, editor's note), explains Aymeric Chappellier, team manager of Leyton. "In truth, they're more comfortable upside down than they are the right way up! They're also shorter and less beamy than Ultims so they're more likely to flip over. That's the main danger with these boats, moreover they're incredible to helm, providing a very unique ride."

Leyton Sailing Team - photo © Julien Champollion - polaRYSE / Leyton

Over the past two years, Sam has surrounded himself with a solid and united team, which has managed all the technical aspects and the coordination of the project, as well as expert sailors, who have helped him to gain confidence in his boat. Thomas Coville, François Morvan, Jack Boutell, Sébastien Josse... Each of them has shared their vision and their experience.

"The female sailors who have come into this within the context of The Magenta Project programme have given me yet another insight into the boat, as they'd never sailed an Ocean Fifty, and what may appear to be trivial comments, have prompted me to consider questions I'd never asked myself," adds Sam.

An Ultim skipper for several years and Armel Le Cléac'h's replacement in the Route du Rhum, Sébastien Josse formed part of Leyton's crew during the Pro Sailing Tour 2021. He's also sailed with Sam this year during training. "He was concerned about sailing in rough weather, about what happens on the boat in 35 knots, how to manoeuvre, etc." says Sébastien. "We went for a sail in these types of conditions, which gave him a chance to see the boat's limits. At times like that, you have to know how to tone down the performance aspect a bit and put a little more emphasis on good seamanship. Sam has that ability too, he's a very good sailor. You have to be able to hunker down and ride out the storm before you can get your teeth into racing again."

Leyton Sailing Team - photo © Yann Riou - polaRYSE / Leyton

Being ready for 6 November 2022

It is with confidence then that Sam went on to rack up the miles in race format and in training, the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe still in his line of sight.

"To be able to set sail with as much confidence as possible, there's no secret recipe. You have to sail, sail, sail. Be at one with your boat, feel how she's behaving when you're asleep, be in control of the craft for as long as possible despite the fatigue," continues Sébastien Josse.

"Sam's strength is that he has put a lot of time into training and being able to set his own pace and his own way of doing things against the other boats. Today, he's clearly ready to go to my mind. He has two seasons behind him, one of which saw him win everything in crewed format, and a second where he won both solo races. He knows his boat inside out. He's ticked all the boxes."

Ocean Fifty entries: