Throwing in the towel

Hugo Boss will take weeks not days to fix, says Thomson, who has retired from the Vendee Globe

Perhaps it is the price of having a black boat, but Alex Thomson seems to have been cursed in this Vendee Globe and today announcing his retirement from the singlehaned non-stop round the world race.

After a trawler collided with him just three weeks prior to the start and the monumental effort that went in to fix Hugo Boss' broken hull and mast, it may have seemed that Thomson had had all the bad luck cards played against him. After his boat was fixed in record time, thanks to the efforts of a huge work force, he set out on the race course and was with the leading pack when shortly after the front that went through on Monday he discovered his boat was leaking and that a crack had developed in the hull. There was nothing for it but to return to Les Sables d'Olonne to assess the situation.

"The boat was filling up with water, it wasn’t like the pumps couldn’t handle it," Thomson told thedailysail earlier. "I knew we were in big trouble as soon as I saw the little sprinkles of water coming out through the inside of the hull."

And so Hugo Boss arrived back in Les Sables d'Olonne yesterday morning, the rig was removed and the boat hauled in order that the brains trust involved with the campaign, including designer Pascal Conq and engineering boffin Paolo Manganelli, could assess the damage.

It seems clear that the damage was not related to the impact of the collision with the trawler. The conclusion is that at some point Hugo Boss landed on a submerged object, this punctured the twin outer layers of carbon skin, causing the Nomex to split below, eventually the outer layers of carbon fibre unis simply to peel off along the hull due to the speed of the boat.

Thomson confirms this makes sense from a sailing point of view: "The boat was definitely on that side of the water. They think the boat came down on a submerged object of some sort and it compressed the outside of the hull which caused the crack which then spread along."



He confirms that the compression is more of a point impact and this doesn't indicate wave damage. "They [the experts] say that number one, a wave wouldn’t cause any compression on the outside - there is an indent. And the other thing is that a wave can’t break the outer skin. Then if it did you’d see that the resultant would be very different inside the boat. The whole thing points very distinctly towards a collision."

While the leaks were eminating from the underside of the hull just by the engine box in the 'saloon' area, the crack extends a very long way down the hull and to fix this will involve removing some of the internal structure such as the ballast tanks (no small operation). "The repair is a matter of weeks not days," was the message back from his technicians and he made the decision to retire last night.

So, is he the most unlucky man in yachting at present? "I still feel lucky to be alive, to be honest after the first incident. It is a real shame after everything that has happened. You can’t do much about hitting something. It was dark and you can’t see anything and it was lumpy."

Thomson admits he didn't feel the impact, but in the conditions of the front this may not be unreasonable. "After we went through the front there were a number of hours where conditions were pretty bad -I wouldn’t say horrific - but the boat was slamming over waves, even at 4 or 5 knots and there’s not much you can do. The waves go past you go so quickly, they pick you up and slam you back down. That is basically what I think has happened – the boat has come down on something."

From here Thomson says the boat goes back to the UK and get repairs and they continue with their program for next year: "move forwards and try and sit down and learn stuff from this one and get ready for the next one. It is quite easy to say it right now, but it is massive to go from where we were to where we are now, is...pretty horrible. Four years of your life and all the money and people’s commitments - for all it to be gone is really harsh indeed. You have to be positive about it . There is no point in wallowing or worry about it. We have to get on and do what we can for the next project. We are all very flat and are all upset about it. If we could do something about it we would but we can’t. It is out of our hands. It is a pity because the boat was alright and I was in a good position considering I had some problems as well."

Thomson adds that if you feel sorry for anyone it has to be Bernard Stamm, for this is his Vendee Globe in a row where he has come acropper.

See the video to accompany this here