Generation 2024 boat
Imoca Initiative Cœur
Samantha Davies

Samantha Davies

Initiatives-Cœur
4th participation
Ranking
1st
Status
Distances covered in nautical miles (1 mile ≈ 1.852 km)
16 196 nm

Profile

Born in England into a family of sailors, Sam Davies spent her childhood on the water. With a degree in engineering from Cambridge University, she began her racing career at the age of 24, with her first crewed round-the-world race. With 5 circumnavigations and numerous transatlantic crossings to her credit, she is one of the most experienced sailors on the circuit. She embodies determination, daring and passion. At the helm of her new IMOCA Initiatives-Cœur, built in 2022, Sam uses every race to raise funds for children with heart defects. Her dedication to this noble cause makes her a sailor with a big heart, combining sporting performance with solidarity.

Achievements

2023

  • Retour à la Base

    6th
  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    5th
  • Rolex Fastnet Race

    4th
  • Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race

    5th

2022

  • Route du Rhum

    28th
  • Défi Azimut

    7th

2021

  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    5th
  • Défi Azimut

    6th
  • Rolex Fastnet Race

    5th

2020

  • Vendée Globe

    Completed her round the world passage out of the race
  • Défi Azimut

    2nd
  • Vendée Arctique - Les Sables d'Olonne

    4th

2019

  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    7th
  • Défi Azimut

    7th
  • Rolex Fastnet Race

    5th
  • Bermudes 1000 Race

    4th

2018

  • Route du Rhum

    Abandon
  • Drheam Cup

    1st
  • Bermudes 1000 Race

    2nd

2017

  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    6th

2015

  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    5th

2014

  • Volvo Ocean Race (Team SCA)

2011

  • Vendée Globe

    Abandon (dismasting)
  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    10th

2010

  • Transat AG2R (Figaro)

    4th

2008

  • The Artemis Transat

    5th
  • Vendée Globe

    4th

2007

  • Transat B to B

    7th

2006

  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    10th

2002

  • Transat Jacques Vabre

    6th

Initiatives-Cœur

  • Architect : Sam Manuard
  • Construction : 2022, Black Pepper Yachts
  • Launch date : 30 Juillet 2022
  • Lenght : 18,28 m
  • Beam : 5,3 m
  • Weight : 8 t
  • Mast height : 28 m

Each race is the occasion for a major awareness-raising campaign during which the boat's sponsors use their donations to fund operations on children suffering from serious heart malformations by donating €1 to Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque for each new follower of the project's Facebook and Instagram pages. 

 

With its "Les Chocolats du Cœur" brand, Initiatives offers sales of solidarity chocolates to associations, schools, companies, CSEs and individuals. These fine chocolates have been made near Orléans by the Alex Olivier chocolate factory since 1927. 

France's leading manufacturer of aluminium joinery, the Vendée-based company K-LINE (LIEBOT Group) designs, manufactures and markets custom-made sliding windows and entrance doors for all types of architecture, both new build and renovation. 

VINCI Energies is speeding up the environmental transition by implementing two major changes: digital and energy. Its teams deploy customised technologies and multi-technical solutions, from design to construction, operation and maintenance, at the heart of their customers' energy choices, infrastructures and processes.

Commitment

With Initiatives-Cœur, Sam Davies is sailing to support the humanitarian organisation Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. This association enables children with heart malformations to be operated on in France when this is impossible in their own country due to a lack of technical or financial resources. They are accommodated by volunteer host families. To date, 363 children have been treated and saved since 2009. The aim is to reach 500 children saved by the end of the Vendée Globe 2024.