Samantha Davies: “confinement looks like what I experience on my boat during the Vendée Globe”

LE FIGARO. - So Samantha, how is your confinement going?

Samantha DAVIES . - Right now, I'm a CE2 math teacher for my 8-year-old son Ruben, with cake and flour problems. Otherwise we keep saying with Romain (Attanasio, his companion also in preparation for the next Vendée Globe scheduled for next November 8), that we are lucky to be in good health, to live in the countryside, ten kilometers from Concarneau and having a garden. With our job, we are rather the masters of containment. Containment is like what we experience in racing on the Vendée Globe. And so here we use the keys that we know when we are alone at sea. Like cutting out the time and the planning of the day by programming activities.

How do you live this complicated period?

I am someone who is positive, and I know that it is much harder for those who live in apartments and those who have to keep working, especially in the medical field. In a year when we were afraid of abandoning our son, we take advantage of these days together to make up for our absences later.

"We are stuck as on a racing boat"

Shouldn't your son be used to having both parents long and together on their backs?

Our cat is already looking at us saying "what are you doing at home" (laughs). She does not understand that we are there all the time. Ruben takes advantage of us. And he too is cool, he manages it super well. he hasn't complained yet after we're out.

Do you feel the same now as when you are alone on a boat?

Yes, it's similar to not being able to see friends, family. We're stuck like on a racing boat. And we use the same means of communication as when we are on the water. I speak with my technical team on video and whatsapps.

"We're not going to complain and say it's annoying for the Vendée Globe"

Everyone is stopped, is it annoying for the preparation of the Vendée Globe?

I don't see it that way, there are a lot of people who suffer and a lot of people who are there to help them. We're not going to complain and say it's annoying for the Vendée Globe. The Vendée Globe can wait. In addition, with my Heart Initiatives boat, I work with Cardiac Patriotic Patronage to save lives. So I know what the medical world is. And I'm not saying it's annoying right now. Because what we are experiencing at the moment is the spirit of the Vendée Globe, we are leaving and we do not know what will happen. Every day we have a shit falling on us, something that happens on the boat. There, all the sailors who prepare the Vendée Globe are housed in the same boat. And in addition we do not even know if the world tour will take place and if it will be on the scheduled date. I am more in the optics, you have to know how to be efficient with what is happening. The boat was in any way under construction. There was a week of work before launching it. When it starts up again, we can quickly be at sea.

Do you have anything to worry about while waiting?

Yes, we have weather training for the Vendée Globe with the Port-la-Forêt training center, we have wind files from previous years to simulate navigations with our computer. I have not yet tilted my desk to 30 degrees but it will come (laughs). There are no things that can be advanced in telework. I have a long list: study of the round-the-world route, fall-back ports in the event of a problem, the boat's performance, preparation of my menus for refueling. I also need to train on video, I love to share and it's time to improve. There are quite a few things to do at home. But when you are a CE2 teacher, the days go by very quickly and you don't have much time for teleworking.

"I dream of riding a bicycle, but that would not be respecting health regulations"

What about physical preparation?

My coach sent me short videos with exercises to do. It is a maintenance goal. We must not burn ourselves in a period when we must stay in shape in terms of immune defenses. she designed exercise circuits that can be done at home with little specific equipment, and more with more chairs, water bottles, rubber bands ... It’s physical preparation training at home all every day for forty five minutes, and from time to time go for a run, like jogging twice a week. I dream of riding a bicycle, but that would not be respecting health regulations. And for the rest, it's yoga. Our family is very sporty, so sport, we will continue because we need it…

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