Men in suits

Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss the best dressed crew in Rolex Sydney Hobart

Alex Thomson's Open 60 crew on board Hugo Boss set sail from Sydney Harbour today dressed to a man in James Bond-style black suits and white shirts, all supplied by the German fashion house who sponsor Thomson.

This is Thomson's second Rolex Sydney-Hobart. "I did the easy race in 2002," recalls the skipper. "I didn’t put my oilskin jacket at all for that race. It was really nice - three tacks, two gybes and that was it. This one looks like it is not going to be too much harder either. It’s light to begin with followed by moderate to strong northerlies."

Unfortunately the light winds forecast for the first 24 hours of the race were not likely to suit the beamy, flat bottomed Open 60 well. "It is not ideal conditions for us being light on the start. And the conditions the boat could really do with are survival conditions. It will be interesting to see how Wild Oats and Alfa Romeo get on. They look wicked machines, they are the fastest monohulls in the world at the moment. They go past you like you not even standing still, like you are going backwards." However when the wind finally backs to the northeast and has built 24 hours in they should be launched. An advantage of Hugo Boss is that she is built for round the world racing and therefore should be able to take more abuse than her larger rivals. Thomson, it should not be forgotten, also holds the monohull singlehanded 24 hour record and is not afraid to push his craft.

For the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Hugo Boss is being sailed by the supreme team including Aussie Open 60 sailor Nick Moloney, double Olympic 49er medallist Simon Hiscocks, sailmaker/driver Jeremy Robinson and navigator Chris Tibbs. Hiscocks and Robinson sailed on board for this year's particularly light Round Gotland race. They also did some training back in April in the UK when Thomson recalls they were sailing with the chute up and two reefs in the main in 40 knots of wind. "Jeremy was driving and we were averaging between 26-28 knots - I was a little nervous."

Getting Nick Moloney on board is a real coup, particularly as this will be the first occasion that the Australian ex-America's Cup, Volvo Ocean Race crew turned solo sailor has competed in a major offshore race in his home country for several years. When Moloney pitched up into Sydney before Christmas it was to something of a hero's welcome.

"I am really looking forward to sailing with him," says Thomson of Moloney, who he raced against in last year's Vendee Globe. "I don’t know him terribly well, but we have always had a really good laugh. We have a similar sense of humour. The only reason why Nick is doing it is that we can give him a suit for his wedding!"

Unfortunately they haven't managed to persuade Lauryn Eagle, the former Miss Teen Australia and water skiing champion to come with them. Before Christmas Miss Eagle was towed behind Hugo Boss on her water skis (see the photos here). "It’s the second advantage of having deck spreaders apart from no one parking alongside you in the marina," says Thomson.

After the Rolex Sydney Hobart Hugo Boss is heading for Melbourne for the Volvo Ocean Race stopover. Aside from being in Australia to carry out sponsor commitments for Hugo Boss, Thomson is cunningly planning on sailing the boat home, to get more experience of the Southern Ocean not just for himself, but for his team. This he hopes will benefit him before he competes in the Velux 5 Oceans next year as well as giving his team some fresh ideas for their new boat.

"We’re leaving on 6 February to come back, to get round the Horn and go up to Buenos Aires, where we'll drop the guys off and then sail up to Newport. It’s the only chance for the guys to go into the Southern Ocean to see what I have to put up with. It will give them some more idea on the preparation side of it and of course they are well up for it. And to take a sailmaker and just learn some stuff. So I think it is really important to do that and to get some new decisions now about new boats, so it is quite key to have that information."