Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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The new Boss is getting a lot of attention for her paintwork. There's a piece at Dezeen about the design. It includes this deckplan that gives you an idea of the shape and beam - she's 60' / 18.3 metres long, and about 19' / 5.9 metres wide.
Alex always has the best looking boats, and this is no exception. The design is pretty radical, particularly around the bow section, and he's kept very quiet about the foils so far.
Apparently she's been out sailing, but no footage so far.
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Reminds me of this Zaphod Beeblebox quote:
"It's the weird colour scheme that freaks me. Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labeled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. Hey, what is this, some kind of galactic hyper-hearse?"
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Here's an interview with Alex and Nandor Fa about the new boat.
http://spiritofhungary.hu/skipperek-egymas-kozott-alex-thomson-es-fa-nandor-beszelgetese-tjv2015/
Click through the link, and press play on the control.
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Alex is somewhere in the Atlantic racing in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Guillermo Altadill.
At the time of writing, he's sitting in ninth, about 95 miles behind the leaders, with 4700 miles to go.
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And he's out.
From the ATR Facebook page:
_After several hours at sea Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill onboard HUGO BOSS made the difficult decision to return ashore. After attempting to address the issue onboard it has not been possible to ensure a sufficient repair whilst at sea to withstand an Atlantic crossing. Alex and Guillermo have made a suitable repair to get to the nearest port where they can analyse the situation. The current sea state and weather forecast have not aided the situation onboard.
The technical team are currently enroute to Vigo, Spain, where the boat will be repaired and hope to be back racing shortly.
Technical Director Ross Daniel explains; 'It is disappointing that the current sea state and approaching weather system have forced us to return to land to make the repair. But it is early days in our training programme as we understand the new boat and work towards the start of the Vendee Globe 2016. We will do everything we can to try and return to the Transat Jacques Vabre as soon as possible.'_
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And even more bad news…
_Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill are now back on land after a successful rescue from the Spanish coast guard this afternoon. The Alex Thomson Racing Team is now heading back out to sea to bring HUGO BOSS safely ashore.
The skippers had made a second repair and were hove to (this is where the yacht is stationary and comfortably sits head to wind). The reason for slowing the racing yacht was to prevent any unnecessary damage. Whilst waiting for the weather to clear a rogue wave caught HUGO BOSS causing the yacht to turn upside down. Alex and Guillermo managed to close the hatches and secure the situation whilst inverted. Alex immediately hit the keel button, bringing the IMOCA back upright. They then alerted the rescue services and technical team of an emergency situation. The yacht had taken onboard a substantial amount of water and the rig had sustained damage requiring the skippers to leave the yacht.
Alex Thomson explains ‘It was an incredibly unusual event and we need to understand why it happened. It was a rogue wave, but we should not have inverted the way that we did. I am now going to go with the technical team and ensure a successful recovery of our new racing yacht.’_
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From Sailing Anarchy
The photo is a frame grab from a video of the rescue.
Alex and Guillermo are safe, and they're arranging to salvage the boat.
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**BREAKING: HUGO BOSS UPDATE
We spoke to exhausted ATR Managing Director Stew Hosford a few minutes ago as he boarded a plane for Vigo, Spain, and he was glad to have the chance to update Alex and Guillermo's fans around the world. Here's the exclusive report on what happened and what's coming up from Mr. Clean.**
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As you may have already read in their early-morning statement, Alex and Guillermo were on their way back to port after a temporary fix of several broken ribs - the same problem noted by at least two new other VPLP/Verdier boats - when they were rolled and dismasted.
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In fact they'd stopped the boat and were hove to on port during the little unforecasted bomb of a depression that developed off the NW coast of Spain two days ago. Alex was asleep down below and Guillermo was on watch when a massive breaker capsized the boat.
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From inside the boat, Alex found the canting button and moved the keel to the other side. The boat snapped back upright, coming up without a rig and with plenty of new damage, including a broken foil.
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The boat was full of water, the electronics were fried, and it was time to GTFO.
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On reaching shore, all Alex could tell his technical crew was "I'm going to get my boat." The team wasted no time chartering an oceangoing tug, and they are already on station about 100 NM to the Northwest of La Coruña with Hugo Boss.
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The dewatering is going well, the boat will be cleaned up and made as safe as possible today, then towed back to Spain overnight.
As soon as Alex has had a big of sleep and his boat is safe and sound, we'll have an extensive interview.
Still no statement or word from VPLP or Verdier, who have a very difficult route to negotiate themselves right now. Between the insurers, race organizers, teams, and the ocean racing community, Vincent and Guillaume have very few options in how they handle this situation if they are to avoid becoming known as the next JuanK.
Check back soon for more info; watch the thread for the latest.
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Bloody hell….
I know! :o
Four of the five new generation Verdier / VPLP boats have broken in this edition of the TJV. Banque Populaire 8 is currently the only one still out there, and leading the IMOCA class.
That said, the foils are proving to be incredibly effective on that boat. We just have to hope that Alex gets Hugo Boss sorted before the Vendee next year.
