Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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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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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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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.
