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My School Sport: Sam Davies

Sailor Sam Davies, who starts a 4,720-mile race from Le Havre to Costa Rica on Sunday, on her days at school.
By Gareth A Davies
Published: 6:24PM GMT 04 Nov 2009

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01516/sam_davies2_1516696c.jpg

Advice: Sam Davies says school sport is important for fitness, team building and because taking part in sport helps you to learn respect for others Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Where did you go to school and was sport an important part of your school life?
Portsmouth High School, and not really, because the school didn't do the sports I was passionate about. No swimming, no sailing, just netball and lacrosse. However, sport was a major part of my young life as I was a synchronised swimmer and swam for Portsmouth Victoria SC. I trained six times a week, and swam for Hampshire.

Did you excel at other sports apart from sailing?
I was pretty good at synchronised swimming. Then I took up rowing at Cambridge University [where she gained a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at St John's College]. I rowed for four years, and was boat club captain for Lady Margaret Boat Club and rowed for Cambridge at the National Championships.

How did your sailing career progress?
My family have always been involved in sailing. My parents had a boat on Hayling Island, and we'd all take off after school. My sister and I would do our homework on the boat.

Who were your sporting heroes growing up?
Tracy Edwards. My other sailing heroes include Peter Blake. In other sports, I admire the British athlete Paula Radcliffe and the French swimmer Laure Manaudou.

How important is sport in schools?
Really important for fitness, for team building and because taking part in sport helps you to learn respect for others.

Best sporting advice you were ever given?
It came from my parents – they just encouraged me to enjoy everything and didn't put pressure on me to perform, or train too much, or stop training/competing because of school work.

You finished the Vendée Globe 2008-09, the solo non-stop round-the-world yacht race, as leading Briton and the first woman home in fourth place, after 95 days alone at sea. What can you tell us about your next race?
It is the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre from Le Havre in France to Costa Rica, an epic tussle across the Atlantic starting on Sunday. A fantastic fleet of boats and sailors are competing. I'm sailing as co-skipper with a very experienced French sailor, Sidney Gavignet.

Follow Sam Davies in the double-handed race at www.artemisoceanracing.com