Sailor Sam Davies wins French hearts

Sam Davies, the 34-year-old British sailor who is competing in the Vendee Globe, one of the world's toughest single-handed off-shore yacht races, has become a big hit with the French, who have dubbed her "La Petite Anglaise" and are supporting her as if she was one of their own.

Davies, who has an engineering degree from Cambridge University and is known to sail naked, is currently in fourth position in the race, which has already seen 18 of the 30 competitors drop out, and will end where it began last November in the French seaside town of Sables-d'Olonne. Her feat is considered all the more remarkable because her boat, Roxy, which Paris Match describes as being painted a "sexy" pink colour, is eight-years-old and not in the same league as many of those of the frontrunners’ speedier vessels.

Her fan base among Gallic males has been abetted by photographs that have appeared in other French magazines, showing her insouciantly perched on the deck in sunglasses and, modestly, a bikini.

Davies, who is from Portsmouth, is not the first British yachtswoman to win over the French. Dame Ellen MacArthur, who at the age of 24 made history by becoming the youngest participant in the Vendee eight years ago, is said to inspire the sort of reverence in France usually reserved for rock stars after coming second in the race. "Single-handed offshore sailing intrigues the French public," Davies told the Sunday Times in an interview via satellite phone. "People are really behind it."

Meanwhile, the Vendee was won yesterday by the French yachtsman Michel Desjoyeaux, who beat the existing record by four days. Davies is due in on Wednesday. ·