'I want to surpass what I did four years ago. And that means making the podium,' says Samantha Davies ahead of the Vende Globe. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters The French call her La Petite Anglaise , but there is nothing small about the challenge Samantha Davies is about to face. Just after midday on Saturday, she will wave goodbye to her husband, Romain, and 14-month-old son, Ruben, to sail in the Vende Globe round-the-world yacht race. It is one of the toughest tests in sport. For the next three months Davies will be alone on a 60ft yacht with just her thoughts, a Kindle, freeze-dried food and 24,048 miles of fickle sea for company. Her toilet will be a bucket. And she will sleep no more than four and a half hours -- in 90-minute stretches -- across a 24-hour day. In the six editions of the race, which was first held in 1989, only 51% of competitors have finished. Davies, the only woman in the field of 20, is one of them. She was fourth in 2009 and is aiming to better that, despite her boat, Savol, being the third slowest in the fleet. "I wasn't expecting to do so well last time," she admits. "I had a boat that was eight years old and the 26th fastest out of 30. I shocked myself. But you discover that your body is capable of going beyond the limits. Weeks of sailing at the speeds I did, often in gale-force winds and