Brian Thompson

Is this the man to finally win the Mini-Transat for Britain, asks Ed Gorman

Thompson is no stranger to solo ocean racing - he won Class 5 in the OSTAR nine years ago aboard the 35ft trimaran Transient - but he says the sleep management bit is the hardest challenge. Most sailors in this class talk of sleep as something they want but can't get because they've got too much on or its just too wet and noisy or even dangerous to leave the cockpit. Thompson highlights something else. "It's just too exciting to sleep," he says, adding that he hand steers purely for the pleasure of it offshore. "I drive the boat almost all the time - it's so light on the helm and so precise. Upwind, it just steers itself while downwind it's really great to steer."

There seems little doubt that, if he can pace himself, Thompson has what it takes. What about the kite he is using? The Mini Prototype, I Must Be Mad, was built in 1999 at Rowan Composites to a Simon Rogers design for an English owner who named it but barely sailed it. Thompson picked it up last November for £40,000 and has since spent another £30,000 on it. (Attempts to get the boat sponsored have so far proved fruitless).

The boat is light and as high tech as any Open 60, built in pre-preg carbon-fibre with a nomex core. Unique to the boat is its unusual keel which not only cants from side-to-side but also moves fore-and-aft by about a metre on a track. Although there was a lot of friction in this system to start with, he and shore crew Tanguy de la Motte have now perfected it and compared to early examples in other boats, Thompson believes this arrangement has been achieved with minimal performance loss through drag. The single central daggerboard or canard is also unusual because it is housed inside a cassette which swings laterally to keep the foil vertical. Rig-wise the boat is fairly standard state-of-the-art with sails by North.

Clearly, I Must Be Mad is not slow. Thompson has worked hard to prepare it and has been spending a lot of time recently working on a new system of auto-pilots supplied by Raymarine who are using the boat to road-test a new product. "In terms of winning, not breaking down is the number one issue, both in terms of preparation and not wiping out too much and staying in control," he said.

This year's Mini features a 55-strong mainly French fleet and begins with a 1,000-mile sprint to Lanzarote in the Canaries. Then, three weeks later, the 3,000-mile second leg begins to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil by way of the Doldrums. No outside assistance is allowed and weather information is on shortwave radio only. "It's all about preparation before you leave and then hoping the weather forecast is pretty accurate because you can't really get a whole lot when you're out there," says Thompson.

The Proto fleet is full of much more experienced Mini sailors than Thompson among them the Frenchman Sam Manuard who sails Tip Top and whom Thompson regards as a key rival. There are also some impressive Brits, notably Sam Davies who also has credible winning aspirations. Thompson reckons he can win if he manages to hold it all together. "I think so definitely...I definitely want to be in the top-five - that's as much as you can plan for," he said.

After the Mini it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that we may see Thompson in a future Vendee. "I see the Vendee as a huge challenge," he admitted. "If that could happen that would be great. I'd like to do one of every race," he added.