World's fastest refit

We speak to Brian Thompson about skippering Qatar 2006 in the Oryx Quest round the world race

When the gun marking the start of Tracy Edwards' first round the world race, the Oryx Quest, sounds off Doha just one month's time Brian Thompson will be undertaking the greatest sailing voyage to date in his already impressive offshore multihull sailing career as skipper of the former Club Med/ Maiden catamaran now called Qatar 2006, as of today resplendent in her new white and maroon paintjob.

At present his 110ft Gilles Ollier & Associates-designed catamaran is undergoing the hastiest of refits in Doha. Following a survey by multihull guru Rob Feloy, work started in earnest mid-December with a team of boatbuilders, many ex-GBR Challenge, led by former Kingfisher boat captain and the man credited with teaching Ellen how to swear, Jonny Malbon.

The original plan had been to take the boat to Dubai to carry out the work. "That was a possibility, but because it is a Qatar boat it is good to do everything in Qatar and keep the race going there," explains Thompson. "And logistically it is easier - you would have had to tow the boat there and sail it back. We have done refits like this before. All you need is the crane, the dock and the right people."

The refit is largely a case of going through all the existing gear, in particular the deck gear and electronics with a fine toothcomb. One of the major jobs is removing the engines - unlike The Race these are not mandatory for the Oryx Quest.

"We are putting generators in a la Kingfisher II," says Thompson (ie the propellors and prop shafts are being removed and engines are being replaced with smaller generators. "So we are trying to do everything with the least potential to muck it up. We are trying to do tried and tested changes. We are putting in the same engines and alternators as Kingfisher II had, using the same people."

A replacement daggerboard is on its way and Offshore Challenges' expertise is being harnessed in organising the boat's new state of the art communications equipment.

A new sail wardrobe is being built at present, except for two sails saved from Club Med that have been seen little use. Due to the time constraints the new sails are being built by both Incidences and the North lofts in France. North are doing the main, Solent and staysail while Incidence are making the gennikers and all the downwind sails. Thomson hopes the boat to be sailing mid-late January.

The structural problems Club Med suffered during The Race in 2001 were fixed before Tracy Edwards purchased the boat and Thompson says that these have been fine save for one small crack, that is not structural. The back beam delamination experienced on the other Ollier G-Class cats of this generation did not occur on this boat as its structure was beefed up at Grant Dalton's insistence prior to The Race.

Thompson says that one of the biggest changes they won't have time to make (other than of course building a new rig that has been on the cards for sometime) is fitting sidewalls to each cockpit as her sisterships have.

The good news is that that the ex-Maiden crew have now finally been paid and there is the prospect that many will return to sail on board. Announcement of the final line-up is said to be imminent. According to Thompson the crew will comprise many familiar faces from other campaigns he's been on including Cheyenne (Thompson was for a long time helm of Fossett's maxi and was watch leader when they set their round the world record last year) and the ORMA 60 trimarans (Thompson has occasionally sailed on Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini).

Although he is running the show and it is no longer a pre-requisite of the campaign, Thompson confirms that there will be women in the crew. "There are a lot of good women I have sailed with. It is part of the history of the boat. We have got all our records with a mixed crew. And I think it works with the maxi-multihulls. It does take some brawn but the brains are the most important thing - not breaking anything. You can’t muscle anything so you have to use your head when you are doing any manoeuvres and organise yourselves to work together. So sometimes the women are better than the men at doing that."

While Grant Dalton's team on Club Med sailed The Race with 11, Thompson reckons he'll go with 13 or 14. "You could save some weight with 11 but there are a lot of sail changes to do and if you can be more active with your sail changes and be more active sailing the boat you can save that weight."

Of particular interest for multihull enthusiasts is that the Oryx Quest will be the first occasion since The Race that the G-Class multihulls will line up against one another. Up until early December with news of Qatar 2006's refit, followed recently by the announcement of Cheyenne's participation, the finish order seemed fairly predictable (assuming there were no catastrophies) - Geronimo first, Qatar 2006 second and Tony Bullimore's Daedelus third.

Now the event looks set to be a lot more competitive. "Three very different designs - it will be very interesting," says Thompson of the line honours contenders. "They will all have their different points of view. Cheyenne, with her massive bows, will be very fast in the Southern Ocean and Geronimo should be the fastest in the Indian Ocean both ways. Hopefully we’ll just be an all-round boat."

It would still appear that Olivier de Kersauson's Geronimo, the only trimaran competing, is the form boat. Due to having less wetted surface area than the cats the tri should be faster upwind and faster in light airs. In addition Geronimo has a complete new sail wardrobe plus a new canting wingmast rig. "That’ll make it even harder," says Thompson. "They have leapt ahead, whereas we have the same mast. But I think we’ll have better sails than the boat has ever had before."

Since The Race these large multihulls have many more miles on the clock, they are more reliable and there are many more crew around with experience racing them. "The only time I think Geronimo has raced anyone else was when we did our 'secret' trip around Britain," says Thompson of the occasion they broke Cheyenne's record for the non-stop lap of the British Isles, only for Fossett to retake it a few weeks later. "Then we were about 200-300 miles apart. So it wasn’t fair test, as we were on different waters. For this course the Indian Ocean will be quite important. Generally the average winds are going to be lighter and more variable than they would be on the Jules Verne."

The course for the Oryx Quest represents an original challenge as it spans the length of the Indian Ocean rather than the Atlantic and has the potential to take the boats through the Atlantic section of the Southern Ocean that most round the world races avoid as they tend to start and finish in the US or Europe. It is also the section of Southern Ocean where there is the greatest proliferation of icebergs, spawned from the Weddell Sea.

To avoid the iceberg threat a waypoint off Urugary has been added to the course. "This stops people going too far south in the South Atlantic which allegedly has the worst ice," says Thomson. "And it adds another tactical part to the race. You’ll have upwind and lighter air in there and then you have to get back into the stronger breeze further south. It is another chance for the leaders to get close to one another."

Thompson says that at present there are no plans, he's involved with at least, for Qatar 2006 after the Oryx Quest. After this Thompson hopes that he will be able to hook a sponsor or a private individual prepared to fund a British 60ft trimaran campaign. "I am talking to various experts at raising money," he says. "I have been doing all the research about going with one of the Groupama 1 generation boats to start with. We’re researching the boats and schedules at the moment. The key is that everyone has sailed together and everyone is good. I've always said there is a lot of talent in Britain with all the Olympic sailors and ex-Olympic sailors. I think a lot of people would like to sail these boats because there aren’t any boats as exciting as this around."

Aside from this Thompson would love to get involved with a Volvo campaign. "Definitely my goal is to do a 60ft trimaran and to have done a Volvo at some point. I am talking to some people about it and I am sure a lot of the crew that we are going to have will be planning to do Volvo campaigns afterwards."

If money is forthcoming for this season Thompson would like to join the 60ft trimarans in the Oops Cup around the Baltic while racing the ORMA events in northern Europe with a season that would culminate in the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre. But the program would of course depend upon firstly securing a sponsor and then trying to fulfil their objectives.

In the meantime he has more pressing matters to deal with.