CLICK HERE TO WATCH ALEX THOMSON ATTEMPT THE KEEL WALK

8 tonnes of carbon fibre yacht, a 255 horsepower jet ski, 45 combined years of sailing experience, and one crazy guy in a suit. ‘We’ve got a safety boat, a film boat, a jet ski… all we need is a plane, man!’ said Alex Thomson, shortly before heading out into the waters of The Solent in the UK to attempt what he calls ‘The Keel Walk’, a stunt that has become infamous throughout the world thanks to the iconic image of Alex ‘riding’ the keel of his 60ft yacht ‘HUGO BOSS’. ‘But everyone always assumes it was ‘Photoshopped’,’ said Alex ‘and I was determined to prove them wrong, so we decided to try again.’ Easier said than done…to sail at the right speed to keep the keel out of the water for long enough for Alex to get on it, you need 18 knots of wind, a slight sea state and a seriously cool-headed skipper. ‘We’d wake up one day and the conditions would look just right, so we’d sound the alarm and get the boat prepped, bring in the jet ski guy, the RIB driver, the photographer, the camera guys… I’m in the suit, ready to go…and the wind drops. It was hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait.’

Share on Facebook

The 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was notable for an unexpected winner of the coveted line honours trophy, a worthy overall winner and a slow passage home for the smaller boats.

The Boxing Day start of the 628 mile race south to Hobart was spectacular, with the 88-strong international fleet setting off from the heart of Sydney Harbour, with its iconic bridge and Opera House as a backdrop. The Heads and shoreline were teeming with spectators as news helicopters flew overhead. Leading the charge on the beat out of the Harbour was Bob Oatley’s maxi Wild Oats XI, the line honours winner in five out of the last six Rolex Sydney Hobarts.

Weather-wise the start of the race was fairly conventional with some fast running conditions for the afternoon, but with a dramatic 180 degree wind shift into the south forecast for the first evening. A swell from the north generated by the ex-tropical cyclone Fina, combined with this wind shift, created a horrific confused sea on the opening night, as the 30 knots southerly wind kicked in with a punch, gusting up to 40 knots. But it is these brutal, testing conditions competitors expect when they set out on the Rolex Sydney Hobart and give the event its reputation as one of the world’s toughest offshore yacht races.

For the crews it was a case of battening down hatches and muscling through and by the first morning there was an impressively low attrition rate with just two retirements. They were joined later by a third, the 2003 line honours winner Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing, suffering sail damage.

24 hours in and race favourite for line honours, the Mark Richards-skippered Wild Oats XI ,was 11 miles ahead of Anthony Bell’s maxi Investec Loyal, these two having broken away from Peter Millard’s Lahana with singlehanded round the world sailor Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss holding fourth on the water. On IRC handicap Roger Hickman, an old hand in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, competing in his 35th race, had pulled into the lead aboard his 1993 race winner, Wild Rose.

For this Rolex Sydney Hobart Wild Oats XI had been ‘turboed’ with the addition of new twin daggerboards and a larger square-topped mainsail, but her dominance as the fastest boat in the race was called into question when at 20:00 on the second evening of the race she was overtaken by the similarly-sized, but older, Investec Loyal.

With the wind lightening and backing from the southwest into the southeast, so Wild Oats XI was caught in a wind hole. Her co-navigator, Ian Burns explained what happened: “They [Investec Loyal’s crew] were keeping track of how we were doing and the moment we stopped under a cloud with no wind under it, they basically sailed right around the outside of this large hole we were stuck in and came back above us. It was good work on their part.”

The theoretically faster Wild Oats XI managed to catch up and overtook Investec Loyal at 07:30 on the second morning of the race as the two boats were sailing down the east coast of Tasmania. For the rest of the morning followers of the race were on the edge of their seats as the two boats match raced around the remainder of the course.

As they rounded the south side of Tasman Island, so Wild Oats XI was becalmed again and, taking their chance, Investec Loyal once again pounced, sailed around the outside of them to regain the lead. Crossing Storm Bay and sailing up the Derwent River to the finish, the Wild Oats XI crew, sailing with many of Australian yachting’s elder statesmen and women on board, threw all they could at Investec Loyal, but it was not enough. Investec Loyal crossed the finish line at 19:14:18 local time, after 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 8 seconds at sea, just 3 minutes and 8 seconds ahead of Wild Oats XI. This was the fourth closest finish in the 67 year history of the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Unfortunately celebrations were dampened when the line honours winner was protested by the race committee. This was over a conversation between Investec Loyal tactician Michael Coxon and a helicopter pilot on the first morning of the race in which Coxon enquired about whether the mainsail or the trysail was being used on board Wild Oats XI. Investec Loyal’s line honour victory was finally confirmed when, after a three hour long protest hearing, the International Jury concluded that Coxon, in his capacity as Managing Director of North Sails Australia, had made the enquiry about Wild Oats XI’s new 3Di mainsail for professional reasons and this in no way had benefitted Investec Loyal’s performance during the race.

 “It was one of the great experiences in my life,” said Anthony Bell, Investec Loyal’s owner and skipper of his win. “The whole thing from the very start, right through to the finish line, was exhilarating. It was a really tough fought out race, but the crew believed in the boat and the cause right from the start and we are so happy to have got past the finish line first.”

Bell’s campaign doubled as a vehicle to raise money for charity (it raised Aus$ 1 million in 2011) on this occasion for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, which purchases vital medical equipment for 178 children’s hospitals around Australia and East Timor. For this reason among their crew were a number of celebrities including sports stars, such as Australian rugby union internationals Phil Kearns and Phil Waugh.

As the slower boats were becalmed in Storm Bay and up the Derwent River, so it became evident that this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart would be one for the smaller large boats, including the competitive 50ft fleet. However the stand-out boat in this size range was Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel Pugh 63, Loki. Over the last 18 months this has proved to be one of the most successful campaigns in on the Australian circuit. Under IRC, Loki’s corrected time was 50 minutes faster than that of Michael Hyatt’s Farr 55 Living Doll, with 84 year old Syd Fischer’s modified TP52 Ragamuffin third and the Cookson 50 Jazz of Britain’s Chris Bull, fourth.

 

“We are elated. It is a fantastic feeling, a huge thrill to win this race,” said a jubilant Ainsworth, after being presented with a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece by Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia and the coveted Tattersall’s Cup, for winning IRC handicap honours. “Having done 14 races, I know how hard it is to win this race. So many things have to go right for you and the wind gods were with us. Our race went extremely well. The aim for the navigators was to avoid stopping and we successfully did that, although we came close a couple of times. Look at what happened to Wild Oats XI – that could easily have happened to us.”

Ainsworth’s crew, led by Irish round the world sailor Gordon Maguire, was 18 strong, but of these only one third were professionals. “The handicap win came when the big boats parked up,” said Maguire. At one point the maxis had extended to almost 120 miles in front of them, but as they had slowed, so Loki had managed to reel back 60 miles.

Earlier in the race the competitive 40 and 45ft Beneteaus had been among the most promising on handicap along with Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose. However the progress of the smaller boats was hampered as the wind shut down for them as they manoeuvred around the east coast of Tasmania into Storm Bay and up the Derwent River leading up to Hobart.

Darryl Hodgkinson, skipper of the First 45 Victoire summed it up best: “I thought it was going to be a carbon copy of last year’s race where we sat in the Derwent. This year we actually camped in Derwent! The last miles from the Tasman Light to the finish typically take six to seven hours. On this occasion it took 15.”

A pre-race favourite among the smaller boats was the new Ker 40 AFR Midnight Rambler, but co-owner Ed Psaltis, winner of the race in 1998, said they had made some wrong tactical choices and, entering Bass Strait, ended up in a giant wind hole, entrapping them for six hours.

While there had been a strong turn-out in Hobart’s Constitution Dock to witness the end of the match race marathon between Investec Loyal and Wild Oats XI, this was rivalled when Australian youth solo round the world sailing phenomenon Jessica Watson arrived aboard Ella Baché another Challenge. Watson’s crew have now entered the history books as the youngest to take part in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, but having spent two and a half months training as a team prior to the start Watson was delighted with taking second place in the Sydney 38 class.

“It was really, really good, everything you would expect,” said Watson on her arrival. “We had three quite bouncy nights on the nose. We didn’t see any severe conditions, but there was some pretty uncomfortable stuff for quite a while there.”

Having previously sailed solo, Watson was full of praise for her crew. “The crew were awesome. It was the best sailing we’ve ever seen them do. It’s what we have been training for and they did exactly that. Everyone did an amazing job. All credit to them – I just held on for the ride.”

The last boat to arrive, crossing the line late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, was that of Sydney boatyard owner Sean Langman. Langman is best known for his attempts to win line honours in previous races, but on this occasion was sailing the wooden 1932 coastal cruiser/fishing boat, Maluka of Kermandie as crew for his 18 year old son Peter.

This year’s race once again proved that to earn victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart is something that takes persistence. As Gordon Maguire concluded: “I won this race in 1991 on an IOR 2 tonner Atara with Harold Cudmore. It was my second Hobart race and I thought ‘easy’. It has been 20 years since I won it again. I have won an awful lot of regattas in between and I do this race almost every year, so it is not an easy race to win. You can’t just come down here with the best boat in the world and win it. You have to come down here with the best boat in the world and have all the luck in the world – all that has to happen in the same race. It is a very unusual beast.”

 

Share on Facebook

Alex Thomson Racing today announced that Guillermo Altadill, the celebrated Spanish round-the-world sailor, will be joining Alex aboard HUGO BOSS for the 2011 edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre race, which starts in Le Havre on Sunday October 30th.

 

Share on Facebook

The Imoca skippers are due to meet up again in St Malo on 31st October for the Route du Rhum-la Banque Postale and in Barcelona on 31st December for the Barcelona World Race. 9 boats are set to compete in the Rhum and at least ten for the Barcelona.

At the present time, some skippers are finishing off their projects in order to make it to the start line, while others are adding the final touches to their brand new prototypes.

The new projects:
Four major projects are under way at the moment. The most advanced of these belongs to Vincent Riou (PRB), whose new boat has been on the water since the spring, and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac – Paprec 3), who recently moored up in Lorient at the end of a long delivery trip from New Zealand via the Panama canal. Meanwhile, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is completing a race against the clock so as to make the start of the Route du Rhum, before gearing up for the Barcelona World Race. The three sailors have all opted for a Verdier – VPLP design, acknowledging the respective performances of Safran and Groupe Bel. Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) is continuing with the construction of his Kouyoumdjian designed boat at the Decision yard in Switzerland.

Continuing to sail
Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) has traded in his Lombard design, which was beginning to get a bit dated, for the Farr designed boat previously skippered by Sébastien Josse during the last Vendée Globe. Bilou’s aim is to defend his title during the next Route du Rhum. Roland will once again be competing against Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), who is continuing to optimise his monohull, as well as Marc Guillemot (Safran), who is keen to repeat his performance from the last Transat Jacques Vabre.

For this year’s Route du Rhum, Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) is now in possession of a boat which once belonged to Vincent Riou, while Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air), winner of the Solitaire du Figaro, will be racing on his Finot designed boat again.

Looking ahead to Barcelona, Dominique Wavre and his new partner Mirabaud will be at the start of the next Barcelona World Race; while Dee Caffari will be teaming up with Anna Corbella (GAES Centros Auditivos).

Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) will also be at the start of the race, aboard a boat previously skippered by Brian Thompson (Pindar). Alex is gambling on the boat’s power and his new boat is certainly a looker.

The Spanish are also intending to be out in force on the IMOCA circuit as several crews are actively preparing for the Barcelona World Race. Alex Pella is teaming up with Pepe Ribes (Estrella Damm) on Loïck Peyron’s former Farr design; Pachi Rivero is partnering Tonio Piris (W Hotels Nova Bocana) on Jean-Pierre Dick’s former boat, while Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (Movistar) are benefiting from the advice of Michel Desjoyeaux after purchasing the winning boat from the last Vendée Globe.

A few other projects will also be taking part in the next Barcelona World Race and they are discreetly being finalised.

Strategic choices for the future
By opting to register the next three editions of the Barcelona World Race in its schedule, Imoca had gambled on its internationalisation and the complementary nature of single and double-handed races.

They’ve pulled it off! The 2010 Imoca season will comprise over 20 entries in its World Championship.

Naturally, the 2008 Vendée Globe was an exceptional event, with 30 competitors at the start. 18 competitors lined up for the 2004 edition, so we should be able to count on the 2012 edition being just as exceptional.

Between these two round the world races, the Europa Race will go around Europe, starting in Istanbul on July 2nd 2011.
An action-packed season
As they all prepare for the two major events, namely the Route du Rhum and the Barcelona World Race, a number of races have welcomed the sixty foot monohulls, enabling a series of often highly instructive confrontations between boats from different generations.

As usual, the Douarnenez Grand Prix welcomed the IMOCA boats for an event which brilliantly combined speed runs and offshore courses. It proved to be a great opportunity for Vincent Riou to try out his brand new PRB and for Marc Guillemot to validate the latest modifications carried out on Safran. The Spaniards on Movistar, Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez, benefited from a prestigious guest in the shape of Michel Desjoyeaux, who was able to pass on a few of the secrets to powering up his former boat. Brit Air skippered by Armel Le Cléac’h and Veolia Environnement skippered by Roland Jourdain, completed the line-up. Ultimately the Spaniards took victory just a whisker ahead of PRB and Safran.

Estrella Damm and W Hotels Nova Bocana battled it out on an original double-handed course between New York and Barcelona with a view to achieving a new record.

The SNSM Record meantime saw the victory of Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) ahead of Akena Vérandas skippered by Arnaud Boissières.

At the same, the Vuelta Espana a Vela played host to eight IMOCA crews for a race between Hondarribia and Barcelona, passing through Santander, Gijon, Sanxenxo, Calpe and Palma de Majorca. Given the results of the first two stages, we could have imagined the race would be completely dominated by the two Verdier VPLP designs skippered by Marc Guillemot (Safran) and Vincent Riou (PRB). However, with every leg, the Spanish crews got stronger and stronger, to the extent that they were a regular source of worry for the two leaders of the fleet, twice just missing out on a leg victory that went right down to the wire. It is clear that the emergence of some top level Iberian crews is excellent news for the internationalisation of the class.

Finally, the Artemis Challenge around the Isle of Wight, an event reserved for IMOCAs, proved to be a must during Cowes Week with Mike Golding (MGYR), Roland Jourdain (Véolia Environnement), Dee Caffari (GAES), Ryan Breymaier and Boris Herrmann (VE1), Steve White (Toe in the water) and the Artemis team vying for the top spot. Mike, the outright winner of the event, was able to hand over a cheque for £10,000 to the R.N.L.I.

News
From 3rd to 5th September, the Happy Baie, a new nautical event in La Trinité sur Mer in Brittany, is inviting the 60’ IMOCAs to join in their races and festivities.

As has become the custom the day before a big meeting, the skippers of the 60’ IMOCAs will head for Port-la-Forêt, South-West Brittany, at the end of September and the beginning of October, for some training sessions in preparation for the next Route du Rhum. It will be an opportunity for the new projects to measure up against the tried and tested boats, which were extensively optimised over the winter.

Some of the Imoca sailors themselves have been subjected to some rigorous on-the-water training this summer, albeit on the smaller craft of the Figaro circuit. Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) has shown that he has lost nothing of his clairvoyance by scoring a blinder in the Transat AG2R La Mondiale in association with Fabien Delahaye, before totally dominating the Solitaire du Figaro.

We offer our sincere congratulations to our 2008 World Champion and his partner Brit Air.

Armel was not the only Imoca skipper to compete in the Solitaire. Jérémie Beyou (BPI), Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), Yann Eliès (Generali), Sébastien Josse (Vendée), Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) and Jonny Malbon (Artemis) also took part in this great summer classic.
Those taking part in the Route du Rhum – La Banque Postale
Arnaud Boissières – Akena Vérandas
Armel Le Cléac’h – Brit Air
Christopher Pratt – DCNS 1000
Michel Desjoyeaux – FONCIA
Kito de Pavant – Groupe Bel
Vincent Riou – PRB
Marc Guillemot – Safran
Roland Jourdain – Veolia Environnement
Jean-Pierre Dick – Virbac Paprec 3

Those taking part in the Barcelona World Race
Jean-Pierre Dick – Loïck Peyron, Virbac – Paprec 3
Michel Desjoyeaux – François Gabart, Foncia
Dominique Wavre – Michèle Paret, Mirabaud
Anna Corbella – Dee Caffari, GAES Centros Auditivos
Alex Pella – Pepe Ribes, Estrella Damm
Pachi Ribero – Tonio Piris,  W Hotels Nova Bocana
Iker Martinez – Xabi Fernandez, Movistar
Alex Thomson – , Hugo Boss
Juan Mederiz – Fran Palacio, Central Lechera Asturiana
Boris Herman – Ryan Breymaier – (VE1)

In addition to these ten entrants, three to four crews are finalising their projects. The former Roxy, Super Bigoud and Kingfisher may also be lining up at the start…

Share on Facebook

 

 2009 Imoca World Championship
 
1.   Marc Guillemot 362pts
2.   Michel Desjoyeaux 357pts
3.   Armel Le Cleach 338pts
4.   Samantha Davies 321pts
5.   Vincent Riou 304pts
6.   Dee Caffari 295pts
7.   Arnaud Boissières 292pts
8.   Brian Thompson 281pts
9.   Steve White 250pts
10.   Richard Wilson 220pts
11.   Raphaël Dinelli 210pts
12.   Norbert Sedlacek 200pts
13.   Kito De Pavant 59pts
14.   Loïck Peyron 52pts
15.   Yann Eliès 44pts
16.   Roland Jourdain 39pts
17.   Mike Golding 36pts
18.   Jérémie Beyou 33pts
19.   Yannick Bestaven 32pts
20.   Alex Pella 30pts
21.   Pachi Rivero 18pts
22.   Guillermo Altadill 16pts
23.   Jean-Pierre Dick 8pts
24.   Marc Thiercelin 4pts
25.   Unai Basurko 0pts
26.   Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty 0pts
27.   Derek Hatfield 0pts
28.   Sébastien Josse 0pts
29.   Jean Le Cam 0pts
30.   Jonathan Malbon 0pts
31.   Bernard Stamm 0pts
32.   Alex Thomson 0pts
33.   Dominique Wavre 0pts

Share on Facebook

Today is a very important day in the Alex Thomson Racing calendar, as we prepare to launch our new Juan K Open 60 at Canary Wharf in London. The boat has taken 4 months to refit to create a race yacht that will provide Alex with the best chance of winning, and as the most powerful yacht in her class she promises some very interesting sailing.

She will be officially named and launched on the 27 May at a glittering HUGO BOSS event, in front of 600 guests including media, VIPs and celebrities. The boat will leave directly after the launch for a summer of corporate hospitality, racing events, and HUGO BOSS parties, hitting hot spots such as The Hamptons, Sardinia and Ibiza, before heading back to base for the build up to the Barcelona World Race.

Share on Facebook

 

The latest incarnation of the HUGO BOSS IMOCA 60 was given a brief airing on Friday  as it was transferred from the Green Marine shed at Spitfire Quay, Southampton to Alex Thomson Racing’s base in Gosport.

 Over the last 4  months the boat has been undergoing a dramatic modification and re-fit under the guidance of boat designer Juan Kouyoumdjian that will provide Alex Thomson with the most powerful IMOCA  60 in the World.

 The boat, now virtually unrecognisable from the original Kouyoumdjian designed Pindar, features a number of radical changes that sets the boat apart from the IMOCA 60 fleet but, under the new grandfathering rule, keeps the boat within the restrictions set down by IMOCA. Alex Thomson Racing is confident that the results will lead to some exciting sailing. 

 “We’ve worked closely with Juan to create something that’s a bit special and we’re all really pleased with the result”, said Alex Thomson. “We’re in the process of fitting the rig and then we’ll be able to try her out. I’ve been looking forward to that moment for quite a while now”.

  HUGO BOSS is due to be officially unveiled in all its glory at a high profile launch event in May. Alex Thomson will then embark on a six-month sailing programme that will take him up to the start of the Barcelona World Race in December where he hopes to go one better having finished second in the 2007/8 race.

Share on Facebook

Last August Alex Thomson was joined onboard his IMOCA Open 60 HUGO BOSS by former Olympic skier Graham Bell for the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race. To watch their journey and get an exclusive view into life onboard the premier racing yacht HUGO BOSS tune into Channel Fiver on Sunday 10th January at 12 noon.

The 2009 Fastnet Race saw a hugely competitive line-up come together for this classic 600-mile offshore race. The 300 strong fleet included Olympic medalists, America’s Cup and round the world sailors. Lining up for his first race was former Olympic skier Graham Bell, a complete novice sailor onboard the IMOCA Open 60 HUGO BOSS one of the fastest racing machines on the planet. 2009 saw the 30th anniversary of the 1979 edition of the race, the race was brought to national attention after an extreme storm swept through the Irish Sea, 15 crew as well as 4 from the trimaran shadowing the race and two from a cruising yacht, tragically died. Only 85 boats finished, 194 retired, and 24 boats were abandoned. Graham speaks to sailors both past and present on their memories of this tragic event, and how technology has changed at sea over the last 30 years.

Date: Sunday 10th January

Channel: Fiver

Time: 12:00

FREEVIEW: Channel 30
SKY: Channel 176
VIRGIN MEDIA: Channel 152
TISCALI TV: Channel 31

Following the Fastnet Race, HUGO BOSS then took part in a challenging two handed Transat Jacques Vabre. The 14 strong IMOCA fleet were battered by storm force conditions in the North Atlantic, causing multiple breakages and one boat to be abandoned. On day nine the race was cut short for HUGO BOSS after a collision on the bow, although the damage was small it wasn’t possible to stop the ingress of water until the area was free from water. Sadly HUGO BOSS was force to retire and after a affecting a temporary repair headed back to the UK.

HUGO BOSS has been surveyed after the collision, and the results showed the damage is minimal. Skipper Alex Thomson commented, “The team are currently working on the repair. The potential was there during the Jacques Vabre, it was so frustrating to have to retire when she had performed so well

Share on Facebook