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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:

      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
        Joined:

        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
            啓蒙家
            Joined:

            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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                • GraemeG
                  Graeme
                  啓蒙家
                  Joined:

                  Unfortunately I'm at the wrong end of the country to make it to the pub on a Wednesday. 😞

                  The Classe Ultime (French for big tris) seems to be picking up. There were a few new builds recently, and I guess that the next big event will be the Route du Rhum in 2018. If Alex is organised, he could have a boat together for that.

                  Here's an unofficial Vendée race tracker, which a lot of people prefer to the official one:

                  http://gis.ee/vg/

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                  • GilesG
                    Giles
                    IHUK Crew
                    Joined:

                    Pulling slowly away…...Boom....

                    "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:

                      @Graeme If you have any questions, let me know.  I'll ask Alex…

                      "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:

                        Thanks @Giles.

                        The thing I'd be curious to know is how far advanced his trimaran plans are, but I suspect that he won't announce that at a pub event. 😉

                        Here's hoping Alex continues to extend his lead. 🙂

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                        • AetasA
                          Aetas
                          見習いボス
                          Joined:

                          @Graeme:

                          Here's an unofficial Vendée race tracker, which a lot of people prefer to the official one:
                          http://gis.ee/vg/

                          Thanks @Graeme .Great tracker to watch at for the next weeks! Wind will be the key and is displayed here well!

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                          • GraemeG
                            Graeme
                            啓蒙家
                            Joined:

                            Alex is now just over 100 miles ahead of the next guy. He's pulled out a lead of about 20 or 30 miles over the past 24 hours.

                            Perhaps he should slow down to give the competition a sporting chance. 😉

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                            • GraemeG
                              Graeme
                              啓蒙家
                              Joined:

                              Speaking of enormous trimarans, here's the Gitana Maxi. It's a 33 metre design by VPLP, who were part of the team behind Hugo Boss, and probably along the lines of what Alex wants next…

                              Sailing Anarchy have also posted a podcast interview with VPLP. I've not listened to it yet, but it should be interesting.

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                              • GilesG
                                Giles
                                IHUK Crew
                                Joined:

                                133 miles in front.  Still not a lot, but gently easing ahead….

                                "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:

                                  And 525 miles in the last 24 hours…..The all time distance sailed in 24 hours record in the Vende was set in 2012 and is about 534, I am supremely confident that Alex will smash that very soon....

                                  "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:

                                    Alex has pranged one of his foils on something. I don't know if the damage is serious, but it'll probably slow him down. 😞

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                                    • GilesG
                                      Giles
                                      IHUK Crew
                                      Joined:

                                      That's the risk when you have bloody great appendages sticking out from the boat…...But he's still going quickly.....

                                      "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:

                                        He's lost the starboard foil, but still keeping ahead of the chasing pack. 🙂

                                        So on one tack he's going to be as fast as before, but on the other he'll struggle. Though at 20 knots, he's still going pretty quickly on the wrong side!

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                                        • GraemeG
                                          Graeme
                                          啓蒙家
                                          Joined:

                                          Alex is still up front. He's pulled out his lead slightly, it's currently 96 nautical miles. 🙂

                                          Vincent Riou has retired. He hit something with his keel, and damaged the canting mechanism. He's not confident that he can complete the race without it dropping off. 😞

                                          There's an interview with Mike Golding, who's done the race a few times on the Vendée website.

                                          http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/16415/mike-golding-offers-his-view-of-the-2016-vendee-globe

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                                          • GilesG
                                            Giles
                                            IHUK Crew
                                            Joined:

                                            Go Boy…...

                                            British skipper Alex Thomson this afternoon completed the fastest ever passage from the Vendée Globe start line to the Cape of Good Hope in the race's 27-year history. Thomson's Hugo Boss passed the famous milestone on the tip of South Africa at 1100 UTC in seventeen days, 22 hours and 58 minutes since beginning the epic solo round the world race from Les Sables d'Olonne in France.

                                            The time obliterates the current race record for the passage of 22 days and 23 hours set by Armel Le Cléac'h in 2012, which in turn broke Vincent Riou's 2004 time of 24 days and two hours. While the Cape of Good Hope is used as the reference point for the passage in the Vendee Globe, it is not actually the most southerly point in South Africa. That title goes to Cape Agulhas, around 90 miles to the south east.

                                            "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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