Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races

Graeme

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.

Graeme

The latest update from ATR:

_Alex Thomson and his team are onboard HUGO BOSS which is now in a stable situation. Alex’s IMOCA 60 is undergoing the necessary checks in order to tow her back to A Coruna, Spain. Where additional team members are on hand to assist with the pending arrival. The rig has been removed and the water onboard pumped out, allowing the racing yacht to be towed. The weather conditions have enabled Alex Thomson Racing to complete a swift response to the emergency situation which occurred yesterday. The yacht is currently situated 100 miles offshore. The crew will remain onboard to make the necessary checks to ensure a safe tow through the night.

Technical Director Ross Daniel says ‘I am proud of our team considering the potential severity of the situation. Of course it’s disappointing we have had to retire from the race. But this year’s Transat Jacques Vabre has provided the fleet with challenging conditions, forcing seven IMOCA’s to retire. As a team we now need to focus on getting HUGO BOSS safely through the night and then assess the situation once she is alongside tomorrow.’_

There are also updates on Stewart Hosford's Twitter feed, but they don't seem to include anything beyond the above.

Hopefully the yacht will be back in port tomorrow, and then they can figure out what went wrong, and how to fix her.

Giles

That is a crap load of work….....

Graeme

Aside from recovering the boat, which seems in hand, my guess is that they need to:

Repair the port daggerboard case.
Replace the missing port foil.
Rebuild any structural ribs that might have failed in the forward part of the boat.
Fit a new mast and deck spreaders. They've probably got a spare already.
Install a new electrical and electronics package. The old one sounds as though it's been fried.

The design for Alex's boat uses a solid carbon skin, less than 3 mm thick, with a web of structural members to increase its stiffness. It's used in the forward part of the hull because this slams against the sea when the boat comes off a wave.

If a carbon / Nomex sandwich panel was used here then the shock loads would cause it to delaminate, which is a bad thing in general, and particularly in the depths of the Southern Ocean. The solid (or monolithic) skin is more resistant to this.

There's an article, Cooking the Machine, about the super-maxi Commanche, which is roughly a 100' version of Alex's boat. It goes into some of the details about her build, and why the decisions were made, if you want to nerd out. But it gives context on how the IMOCA 60s are put together.

Anyway, what appears to have happened with the new boats is that the structural ribs in the forward part of the hull have become unbonded. This is a photo from Virbac St. Michel, which is a sistership to Hugo Boss, and showing the damage.

These are going to need to be checked, repaired and reinforced before the next race.

That said, I did hear a comment along the lines that if a boat doesn't break the first time out then they've overbuilt her! :o

Graeme

The fishing trip has been successful, and they're recovered the boat.

Graeme

Hugo Boss is safe.

And the latest press release.

_Alex Thomson Racing are determined to succeed

2nd November 2015 – British sailor Alex Thomson and his co-skipper Guillermo Altadill are looking towards the 2016 Vendee Globe after an extraordinary sequence of events ended their participation in the Transat Jacques Vabre this weekend. The pair were rescued by the Spanish coastguard on Saturday afternoon after a rogue wave caught the new HUGO BOSS while the yacht was in a hove to position. The boat, which sustained damage to its rig in addition to taking on water while inverted, was later successfully brought to the dock in A Coruna, Spain, after a swift response from the Alex Thomson Racing Team.

The weather conditions in the first few days saw wind speeds in excess of 50 knots (75 km/h) and waves up to 10 metres high. Alex and Guillermo made the decision to take the safest route, passing the weather system to the south. Whilst travelling south west the yacht incurred some structural damage and the skippers took the decision to head for A Coruna, Spain 120 miles away.

The yacht was hove to, whilst Alex and Guillermo waited for the next weather window allowing them to proceed to port. Unexpectedly a rogue wave caught the racing yacht 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 yacht 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 “I have never experienced anything like it. I was asleep and woke up to a boat upside down rapidly filling with water. Guillermo and I responded together as a team to the difficult situation and now that my boat’s back safely we can focus on our Vendee Globe campaign as a team. We have overcome problems before and I am as determined as ever to succeed.”

Always at the forefront of innovation, the team are pushing the boundaries with an advanced new boat design and know that race conditions provide the ultimate test.
Alex and Guillermo were aiming for a podium finish in the Transat Jacques Vabre, and remain determined to succeed in the Vendee Globe. They will now focus their energy on further improving the yacht and honing its competitive edge.

CEO of Alex Thomson Racing, Stewart Hosford, explained; “We are delighted to have the boat back on the dock and I am grateful to all of our team and the coastguard for their hard work and support. The team will now be working hard to assess and resolve the issues as quickly as possible so that we can resume our training programme. We are as determined as ever to get the boat back sailing and in race condition and continue to focus on the Vendee Globe.”_

Graeme

There are some photos of Hugo Boss in La Coruña on the Sailing Anarchy forums. She looks in decent shape from the outside, barring the missing mast.

Sailing Anarchy are scheduled to do an interview with Alex at around 16:00 GMT today, and it'll no doubt be posted a few hours later.

In the meantime Alex is talking to his insurers…

Graeme

It sounds like Hugo Boss hit something, and that led to the structural issues. More soon.

Graeme

Some of the sound quality isn't great.

Giles

Downloading to watch on the plane.

I don't know what he says here, but I have talked to Alex about the IMOCA Open 60 design and the way it has been going. It is so very fragile. There are great tracts of the hulls of the current generation that you can't stand on (else you will go though the carbon fibre). Alex thinks that this is utterly stupid and has been calling for change, but to remain competitive, he had to build the latest boast to the existing regs (or thought he did….....) Perhaps he should have stuck with the older generation and watch everyone else retire though breakage....

Graeme

Sound quality aside, it's an interesting interview. Alex is a great storyteller.

I'm really surprised how fragile the boats are getting. The ORMA trimaran class imploded after the fleet was wiped out in a couple of races, ironically one of which was the Transat Jacques Vabre, because they were unseaworthy. The IMOCAs could be heading in the same direction.

Bear in mind that the previous generation boats were even lighter. PRB is about 6.9 tonnes, versus 7.5 tonnes for the new designs. Alex would probably be best reusing the boat from his last Vendee…

Nigel Irens, who designed B&Q Castorama for Ellen MacArthur, believed a heavier, cheaper, and slightly less high-tech solution was safer. It worked out for Ellen, along with Francis Joyon, who still holds the solo round the world record.

Graeme

Three months later and Black Is Just About Back.

Giles

Alex came to our Christmas party. He told me some stuff about that thing that unfortunately, I can't repeat. Let's just say I got nervously VERY over-excited

Graeme

I believe that Alex has been working with Hugh Welbourne, who developed the Dynamic Stability System foils, so I've got a rough idea where this is headed.

Let's just hope that he doesn't break the boat again in the next ten months…