First reaction: Sam Davies (Initiatives Cœur)

After finishing sixth in the Imoca class of this 13th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, with Tanguy de Lamotte, Britain's Sam Davies gave her first reaction on the pontoon in Salvador Bahia:

"It was an amazing race. It was really intense, especially the first week. It was really hard, and luckily Tanguy and I know each other very well and we’ve sailed together on the Transat Jacques Vabre before. That helped to manage the intensity during the tough part - but for me that was kind of my favourite bit as well; I love it when it’s full on and windy and rough. It was great to discover this boat - which is my future boat - and how well she handled those conditions. It’s really promising for next year.

I can’t wait to sail again. We’re learning a new boat, we’ve had it since the beginning of this year and we haven’t managed to the learn everything about it and obviously there are bits that we missed that the leaders knew - they’ve been sailing their boats since the Vendée Globe (2016). They know their boats really well and did an amazing job - Jean-Pierre (Dick) and Yann (Eliès), and Paul (Meilhat) and Gwénolé (Gahinet) did an amazing race, hats off to them. I’m going to use them as an inspiration for my training for the next chapter. 

The welcome in Salvador is brilliant. For me, there are memories from 2001, I did my Mini-Transat and that was the first time I’d come to Salvador, it was the first time I’d sailed across the Atlantic on my own. A lot of memories come back. Salvador is an amazing place and I know we’re going to have a great time here. We’re going to stay here a few days and make the most of it with our families. It’s just the best end to a great Transat."