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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races

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    • GilesG
      Giles
      IHUK Crew
      Joined:

      @Graeme:

      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…

      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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      • GraemeG
        Graeme
        啓蒙家
        Joined:

        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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        • GraemeG
          Graeme
          啓蒙家
          Joined:

          Alex is currently in the lead of the race. 😉

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          • GraemeG
            Graeme
            啓蒙家
            Joined:

            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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            • GilesG
              Giles
              IHUK Crew
              Joined:

              Alex never plays the same game - look at his routing in the Southern Ocean last time around…...

              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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              • GilesG
                Giles
                IHUK Crew
                Joined:

                "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                • GilesG
                  Giles
                  IHUK Crew
                  Joined:

                  After a tactical routing error - worth a try, but it did not pay off - Alex is absolutely flying.  459 Miles in the last 24 hours and he's hauled in the leaders and is now up front….

                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                  • AetasA
                    Aetas
                    見習いボス
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                    @Graeme:

                    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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                    • GilesG
                      Giles
                      IHUK Crew
                      Joined:

                      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….

                      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                      • GilesG
                        Giles
                        IHUK Crew
                        Joined:

                        These boats…......

                        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                        • GilesG
                          Giles
                          IHUK Crew
                          Joined:

                          Alex continues heading south whilst the other front runners chuck in a right hander and head on a more westerly course.  Alex has to get out of the doldrums before the others, finger crossed because it's a lottery in there…...

                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                          • GilesG
                            Giles
                            IHUK Crew
                            Joined:

                            https://www.facebook.com/events/207150499726471/

                            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                            • GilesG
                              Giles
                              IHUK Crew
                              Joined:

                              Doldrums?  What Doldrums….?

                              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                              • GilesG
                                Giles
                                IHUK Crew
                                Joined:

                                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.

                                "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                • GilesG
                                  Giles
                                  IHUK Crew
                                  Joined:

                                  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...

                                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                  • GraemeG
                                    Graeme
                                    啓蒙家
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                                    Alex is still out front, and extending his lead slowly. There's currently over 80 miles between him and the next guy.

                                    I'm impressed by Vincent Riou on PRB. He's keeping up with the foilers on an older boat, but we'll have to see what happens when they hit the Southern Ocean.

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                                    • GilesG
                                      Giles
                                      IHUK Crew
                                      Joined:

                                      As Alex said last night, 80 miles is nothing (it was 60 when he was chatting to us), that's just 3 hours fast sailing…...One of the reasons he is slowly creeping away is that his foils work at much slower speeds than the other foilers, indeed in some situations, the other foils do not work and the skipper may as well be sailing a conventional boat.  Alex's foils work far better through a greater variety of wind speeds and wind angles....

                                      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                      • GraemeG
                                        Graeme
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                                        There's a bit of speculation on the Sailing Anarchy Vendée thread that:

                                        • Alex is sailing at different angles because his boat is different to the French fleet.

                                        • It's possible that Hugo Boss is heavily optimised for downwind sailing, as Alex has said in the past that's what he thinks the race is won on.

                                        If the second point is true, things might tighten up on the leg back up the Atlantic.

                                        Incidentally, if you think that the 60s are fast, Thomas Coville is currently attempting to break the solo round-the-world record on the trimaran Sodebo. He's had a good run down the Atlantic, and after 11 days is about 1,100 miles ahead of Joyon's reference time on IDEC. If he keeps up that margin, he could possibly break the fifty day barrier… :o

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                                        • GilesG
                                          Giles
                                          IHUK Crew
                                          Joined:

                                          Guess what Alex wants to do next?  Yep, play with trimarans…..

                                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                          • GilesG
                                            Giles
                                            IHUK Crew
                                            Joined:

                                            Hugo Boss does not need to be heeled as far over as "the others" to get lift from the foils, he therefore gets lift in lighter winds than the others…..And yes, that means he will get more lift when he is sailing downwind than the others....

                                            If you want to know more, come to the pub on a Wednesday night, there will always be some of the shore crew there to answer questions, and as long as Alex is not otherwise occupied (Gybing, tacking cleaning the diesel) then he will phone in and you can ask him anything you want.  One thing about Alex, he does not hide stuff (well, actually he told me last Christmas that the boat was enormously fast and he was deliberately sailing it slowly in some of the precursor races, so as not to show his hand before the Vende...), he is really open so will answer almost anything....Including where his "adult films" are stored on the boats hard drive (under "taxes" if you want to know 🙂 ). Yep someone asked him that question last night.....

                                            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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