Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races

[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…

[Graeme]

Ten years ago, Alex lost his keel in the Southern Ocean, and had to abandon ship. Mike Golding rescued him, and was dismasted shortly afterwards.

Anyway, the remains of the original Boss have just been found in the wilds of Patagonia.

The original video of the rescue.

[Giles]

Bring it home this time Alex….(The cup as well as the boat).....

https://www.facebook.com/AlexThomsonRacing/?fref=nf

[Giles]

https://www.facebook.com/AlexThomsonRacing/videos/1314352405245475/

[Graeme]

:o

[Giles]

Feckin BOOM…...

[Graeme]

Just looking at the Vendée Globe entrants, and noticed Alex's number.

[Giles]

BOOM…..

[Giles]

Come on, keep it up and don't break the bloody thing….

http://www.ny-vendee.com/en/race-tracker/

[Graeme]

I'm surprised that Alex survived the first day, when a third of the fleet broke. He's going to ruin his reputation at this rate. :o

Fingers crossed he gets across fast and in one piece.

[Graeme]

Alex is still in the lead.

Jérémie Beyou is slightly behind him, by 2.8 miles. This is impressive because his boat, Maître Coq, is of the previous generation. I think that she's been upgraded with foils.

Sébastien Josse, on Edmond de Rothschild, is also in the chase, and trails Alex by 10.8 miles. He's following Beyou, though. The boat, which is occasionally referred to as Gitana (the team's name), is one of the latest generation.

Alex lost a lot of miles yesterday because his autopilot disengaged at 28 knots, and forced the boat into an emergency crash tack! There's a video on his Facebook page with all the details, but the short version is that a GPS failed, and caused the system to go down. Thankfully nothing was damaged, except his lead.

[Giles]

You can follow Alex's progress here.  He's now lost the lead….

http://www.ny-vendee.com/en/race-tracker/

[Giles]

Third….

Come on boy....

[Graeme]

+1.

He should stop wasting time eyeing up the Winter 2016 Iron Heart releases, and get back to beating those Frenchies.

[Graeme]

The weather isn't great in the middle of the Atlantic right now…

[Graeme]

Alex is in the lead again, just! But with a 2.5 mile margin, I suspect that he'll lose it again.

[Giles]

Alex is doing 1.5knots at the moment, the other 2 out the front are doing 10knots.  And Alex is now in 3rd.  Looks like he has an issue…..