Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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It's really to do with the wind. When looked at the weather on the tracker earlier, it was very week.
Alex said in one of the podcasts that he got separated from the other leaders when he wiped out with the GPS failure. So now he's sailing in a different bit of the sea.
Fingers crossed that he finds some breeze.
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Alex, if this is not a sponsor obligation I'd be very worried….
https://www.facebook.com/AlexThomsonRacing/videos/1439553842725330/
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An article about the new Hugo Boss. Doesn't sound like a pleasant place to spend 80 days.
http://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/92713-92713
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The Vendée Globe kicks off this weekend.
Yachting World have posted an article about Alex's boat, along with a video interview of Stewart Hosford, MD of Alex Thomson Racing.
There's also a tour of Edmond de Rothschild by Sébastien Josse. She's sort of a sistership to Hugo Boss, though Alex's boat is more radical.
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I am sure that if Alex's boat holds up, he will cream this race. I know the boat is seriously fast, he started building it so late, that it is like a 0.5 rev further ahead than the French. But is is fragile, he's broken in badly once already and is not 100% sure why it broke, so he has just added a shit load of strengthening up the front…...If he keeps this together, I predict a 7 day or better circumnavigation.....
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I know, I'm just amused by Gosvegas featuring in the commentary of a major sporting event.
Dee's team used to be based about 70 yards from our house, so she's a little pro Gozza, I did tell her once, when I had had a few, that I wanted her babies, that probably put her off…
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I think that there's always an element of the unknown with structural loads on the IMOCAs. There have been a spate of keels falling off in recent years, and the foilers are at a bottom of a learning curve. Maybe Riou's decision to stick with a conventional design will prove to be smart.
If the boats get a sub seventy day circumnavigation, then that will be really impressive. Ellen MacArthur's record in 2005 was 71 days on board a larger trimaran. (For non-sailors, trimarans are faster than monohulls, and boat speed is proportional to length.)
Should be a good race to follow. I'm looking forward to seeing how the foilers go.
Incidentally, this was one of the spectators at the start, and described as James Bond's boat. It's pretty cool.
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Alex dropped down the rankings, but retook the lead overnight.
The boats are currently running down the Portuguese coast. Alex is the black trace, naturally, and the orange one to the west of him is JP Dick, who was in second at the time positions were reported.
As you can see, Alex took a bit of a flyer, as he sailed closer into the coast. The speculation over at Sailing Anarchy is that he took advantage of stronger breeze, particularly off the land, and the currents that run north to south.
What struck me is that most of the top French sailors, i.e. those in the pursuing pack, have come up through the Classe Figaro. This encourages boat-on-boat racing, and very rarely do they take risks in routing. Alex didn't, so he's chosen a course that he thinks is beneficial, rather than covering his rivals.
It's paid off, and I also wonder if the possible groupthink amongst the Figaristes might prove to be a weakness if Alex doesn't play the same game.
