Sam Goodchild leads the fleet round the last mark of an inshore racing during winter training at La Grande Motte. Photo © Rupert Holmes

Britain virtually invented single-handed long-distance racing, with the original OSTAR trans-Atlantic race back in 1960, but for the past three decades the scene has been dominated by French sailors. Granted, Mike Golding, Ellen MacArthur, Sam Davies, Dee Caffari and others have achieved notable success, but there simply haven’t been enough well-funded British sailors to challenge the French supremacy.

However, British sailors are now making big inroads, most recently with Nigel King and Sam Goodchild taking second and third places in this year’s Transmanche race, sailed in the super-competitive Figaro class.

In such a tight fleet – after 150 miles all boats bar one finished within 50 minutes after – it would be easy to ascribe this success to luck – being in the right place when the wind filled in. However both the shut down and the new wind were clearly forecast, so everyone had this information in advance. Sam and Nigel managed the fine balance between focusing on boat speed and big-picture strategy to perfection, positioning themselves to get into the new wind first and sail around the fleet. Their success was no accident.

Although Conrad Humphreys wasn’t so well placed, he still found the race a positive experience: “Whilst I finished 15 of the 21 starters, there were some good moments in this race… I’m sailing the boat much better, but my decision making at crucial moments is still rusty… The speed differences in this fleet are tiny, so it’s crucial to be always thinking ‘Where do I want to be next’ and visualising the legs ahead.”

All three skippers are part of the Artemis Offshore Academy, established last year to nurture British campaigns capable of winning the Vendee Globe Race. Last winter’s training at the Centre d’Entrainement Mediterranee, at La Grande Motte, near Montpelier, was perhaps the first time that a group of funded British sailors have been able to get the same training as French skippers.

When I visited in February it was telling that the French sailors were learning as much from the Brits as vice-versa. “The English are very good sailors who come from a different sailing background, so our skippers are also learning things that help them become faster,” explained the centre’s directeur sportif and head coach, Franck Citeau.

In six weeks’ time it will be well worth keeping an eye on the Brits’ performance in the season’s main event, La Solitaire du Figaro.