Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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One of the things that amazes me about these guys, is the things they have to do. One of them is to go up the mast if there is a problem, there's no way of stopping the wind, the weather or the boat, they just have to get up and fix it. This is a photo JP Dick took from up top…..Holy shit....
Alex tells a good story of when he had to go up the mast to cut down a jammed Spinnaker in the 2004 Vendee Globe. A halyard caught round his leg as he descended, he hung upside down 50ft up bashing against the mast whilst the boat sailed on at 25Knts in the Southern Ocean. No one to help for 1000's of miles, exhausted and beaten he had to cut himself free without cutting the line that held him from falling to his death. Freaks me out even thinking about it!
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Love this quote from Jean Le Cam….
“This Vendée Globe was very difficult, especially towards the end. There has been very few good moments, but because they were so rare, they were exceptional. When you spend four days off the coast of Brazil so shaken you can’t have coffee or piss, the slightest calmer moment feels so great. The contrasts is the most important.”
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Hugo Boss have signed up to sponsor Alex Thomson for another four years.
Looks like we'll have another thread on the Vendee in 2016.
