Sam Davies sailed the globe single-handed in the world’s toughest ocean race but today she’s having trouble parking her boat. The woman they are calling the new Ellen MacArthur looks nervous as she gingerly motors backwards in the £3m, 60ft racing yacht. “I’m not sure why the French have to reverse their boats into a berth but that’s the second time today I’ve almost crashed,” she giggles.

Just over 5ft tall, Davies looks dwarfed at the helm as she gently steers Artemis, her Imoca 60 craft, towards the pontoon and a bank of waiting cameramen.

Her blonde hair is windswept; not surprising as she’s spent the day crashing through the waves at 27 knots, training for the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre. The 4,730-mile race, from Le Havre to Puerto Limon in Costa Rica, starts today and has lured the best sailors in the world to the French port, all seeking glory by being first across the finishing line in a fortnight — at least according to the schedule.

It is an epic and dangerous race. Previous years have seen mass capsizes, masts being snapped in half by high winds and competitors being airlifted to hospital with broken bones. Treacherous weather is the biggest fear, with Atlantic swells big enough to blot out the horizon for days on end, but competitors must also deal with isolation: the race is a two-hander, meaning there are only two people per yacht smashing through the waves at 40 knots.

Davies will be partnered by Sidney Gavignet, a Frenchman. “It can be a real handful and in some races you would expect a crew of 12 on board,” she says. “Sidney and I are on our own in the middle of the Atlantic — in November. I suppose you could say anything might happen.”

Even so, the fact that she has a partner at all is a departure for Davies. She made her name by completing the notoriously tough Vendée Globe solo round-the-world race in February. After 96 days alone tackling some of the most inhospitable waters on the planet she finished fourth. Davies sacrificed an even better position to take a 36-hour detour and turn back to help a French competitor seriously injured in an accident off Western Australia, winning her the admiration of sailors around the world. “There’s an unwritten rule that you always go to help somebody,” she shrugs. “All the skippers spoke about it before the start and there was never a doubt in my mind about turning round and sailing back as fast as I could.”

Davies, 35, tackled 60ft waves and a hurricane during that race but she also likes her creature comforts. Apart from foul-weather gear and thermals, she says she also packs face cream and body lotions in her kit bag. She’s sometimes known to wear just a bikini when racing and once put the wind up salty sea dogs everywhere by admitting she has sailed naked and danced on deck to disco music.

“Sometimes you just need to rest your mind,” she says. “There are no proper beds or a shower and the only toilet I have is a bucket. You just do what you have to to get through the day.”

Watching Davies at work aboard her yacht is an experience in itself. During the practice run — and before she had to negotiate that tricky bit of reverse parking — she is absorbed and in complete control. Even as the deck is lashed with ocean spray while the Imoca 60 crashes through the waves, she moves effortlessly from side to side, hoisting the huge spinnaker to best catch the wind, grabbing the wheel and shouting communications. I, meanwhile, try to keep out of the way — and out of the ocean — as the boat pitches and rolls and snaps to and fro as if alive.

As Davies turns the vessel downwind it suddenly catches the breeze and she lets out a squeal of joy as the yacht overtakes Michel Desjoyeaux, arguably the best sailor in the world and winner of last year’s Vendée Globe. “It doesn’t matter what level of race you are in. It’s not very often you overtake Michel.”

It is clear that Davies still gets a kick out of sailing. Originally from Portsmouth, she grew up wanting to be a ballerina but came from a family with salt water washing through its veins. Her grandfather was a submarine commander and her parents had a boat moored at Hayling Island. “I couldn’t escape the water. Mum said she took me out when I was just a week old. I learnt lots cruising around with them, including how to cook a meal in a force 8 gale.

“When I have children it won’t stop me sailing. I think you can fit your passion into your lifestyle, provided you don’t mind making a few compromises along the way.”