After an explosive start and a race of unbridled intensity, Sam Goodchild, skipper of MACIF Santé Prévoyance, completed his second victory of the 2026 season when winning the Défi Azimut 48 Hours solo race.
The MACIF skipper who won the season-opening 1,000 Race in May, was looking to avenge his defeat by the Italian sailor Ambrogio Beccaria in the Vendée Arctique which followed it in June, and the two skippers fought a thrilling dual from start to finish in the 48 Hours.
But this time Goodchild never allowed the sailor known as “Bogi” to get past him, even though the delta between them varied from just a few minutes to a final margin at the finish of the 556-nautical mile race of just over two hours.
The triangular course on the Bay of Biscay started off Lorient and took the 14-strong fleet south and offwind to a mark off the Gironde estuary, before heading upwind in lighter airs towards a waypoint located 110 miles west of Penmarc’h, and then returning downwind to Lorient. Goodchild came out of the blocks meaning business and crossed the startline in 20 knots of breeze at full speed in the lead. In the early minutes of the race he ducked behind a cargo ship and then tacked on top of Jérémie Beyou on Charal who would finish third. It was quite clear that the MACIF skipper was looking to impose himself from the off.
At the finish, after completing the course in one day, 14 hours and 48 minutes, having sailed an actual distance of 640 miles at an average speed of 16.5 knots, Goodchild spoke about his plan to make a quick getaway.
“I started the race thinking ‘this is where it’s going to be decided,’’ he said. “We needed to get a good start, we needed to go fast and we couldn’t overthink things. That’s what we did. But unfortunately I wasn’t alone – there were two or three others who followed me. We pushed the pace very high, very quickly and we saw that the others were able to do the same.”
And he spoke about his close call with the freighter and deciding to dip it rather than pass in front of it. “I hesitated about going in front of it,” said Goodchild. “With everyone watching, if things go wrong, it’s not exactly the smartest thing to do. So I took the safe option and that put me well into the red because bearing away in an IMOCA doing 20 knots, then rolling the headsail, the tacking twice and getting past – that was pretty full-on already and the cargo ship didn’t exactly help us.”
It was a close-run thing between Goodchild and Beccaria on board Allagrande MAPEI all the way to the first mark which they reached less than a minute apart. But it was when the boats started to head upwind that MACIF started to build a race-winning lead. Goodchild was delighted with his pace both up and downwind on course, that he said, suited his boat, but he emphasised that beating the Italian requires him to be right on his game.
“Ambrogio brings a huge amount of intensity and never gives up,” he said. “And, from the outside, you can see that if you want to beat him, you’re going to have to be in good shape and avoid making mistakes as well.” The next stage of this battle between these two IMOCA warriors will be the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe solo transatlantic race in November…
The irrepressible Beccaria was in great form after a race in which he said he had made very few mistakes. “I am very proud of myself,” he said after completing the course at an average speed of 15.8 knots. He said that short course racing is not his speciality, but he was delighted with how his boat performed. However, upwind in medium-to-light wind was always going to favour MACIF, he said.
“As soon as the wind eased a little, he (Goodchild) has bigger sails, so he can get going better than me,” explained the Italian skipper. “I might not be the most comfortable in those conditions and he really has the most incredible boat in the history of the IMOCA fleet in those conditions. It’s impressive because he’s at least a knot faster than the best boat in the fleet.”
Beccaria is building in confidence as he works his way towards the Route du Rhum. “It’s such a great feeling not to break anything on the boat,” he explained. “I was so worried after the Vendée Arctique. The first part of that race was a complete disaster. Now, thankfully, I could set off again because we’re just a month away from the Route du Rhum and that’s the goal. But it’s great to see that all the work the team has been doing is really paying off, because the boat is absolutely perfect.”
Behind Beyou in third place, it was Corentin Horeau on board MACSF in fourth position, with Violette Dorange on course for fifth place on board Initiatives-Coeur.
