Born in Portsmouth, England, Sam Davies grew up in a family of sailors. A graduate in engineering from the University of Cambridge, she began her career in competitive sailing at the age of 24 by embarking on a trimaran in an attempt to break the Jules Verne Trophy record in 1998.
Sam Davies has made her mark in offshore racing with four Vendée Globe participations and two in The Ocean Race. After honing her skills in the Mini 6.50 class and on the Figaro circuit, she made a name for herself in the 2008 Vendée Globe, finishing an impressive 4th aboard the IMOCA Roxy. She was later selected as the skipper of Team SCA for the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race, a fully female-crewed round-the-world race. Sam took the helm of the IMOCA Initiatives-Cœur in 2018 and raced the Vendee Globe 2020.
Continuing her momentum, she secured a 5th place finish in the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre with Nicolas Lunven. That same year, she launched the construction of a new Initiatives-Cœur. At the beginning of 2023, Paul Meilhat invited her to join his IMOCA Biotherm for a leg of The Ocean Race. In 2024, after an intense Vendee Globe race, she crossed the finish line in 13th position. After having teaming up with Violette Dorange as co-skipper for the 2025 Transat Café de l’Or, she decided to involve herself in crew handed offshore races.