Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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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.
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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….....
Alex seems to be more like a bold player. What a trick to pass through a passage between the western Cape Verde islands.
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As @Graeme said above, Alex does not have the "I have to cover my competition" mentality that some of the French sailors have. He took a different route that the other leaders earlier in the race and it did not pay off, but I am pleased to see that he is still prepared to follow his instincts, not follow the others….
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Fucking BOOM…..
Alex Thomson lead the eighth edition of the Vendee Globe solo non stop around the world race into the Southern Hemisphere when he crossed the Equator at 1905hrs UTC this Tuesday evening. The solo skipper of Hugo Boss sets a new reference time for the passage from Les Sables d'Olonne of 9 days 7 hours and 3 minutes. This betters the 2004 passage time of Jean Le Cam by 1 day and four hours.
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Tonight we went to the local pub that Alex's brother David runs. Alex phoned in from "just-having-smashed-another-world-record-and-now-somewhere-just-offshore-of-Brazil-but-definitely-still-in-first-feckin-place"…He sounds so amazingly relaxed and cracked some great jokes, he is at one with this race - amazing...
