Saturday 19th November – Alex Thomson Racing is currently dealing with a situation onboard HUGO BOSS. At 09.35 UT this morning Alex sustained damage after a collision with an unidentified floating object whilst in the southern Atlantic racing in the Vendee Globe. This has resulted in damage to the starboard foil, which Alex will inspect once the wind and sea state has become calmer.
Alex explains “Having had a pretty quick night where the boat was sailing high averages and the boat was super uncomfortable I had retracted the foil 30% early this morning and was sailing the boat pretty conservatively in a building breeze. At 09.35 UT this morning I was down below trying to sleep and the boat was sailing in 22kts of wind with a J2 and one reef in the main. I was averaging 24kts of boat speed when I heard an almighty bang and the boat stopped and turned to starboard by about 20 degrees. I quickly went on deck, eased the main sheet and realised I must have hit something. I eased the boat down wind and went to take a look and the starboard foil has been damaged and there are some scrapes on the starboard side of the boat. Right now I have taken the foot completely off the throttle and changed sails and retracted the foil and will sail on in these conditions until the wind and sea state moderate and I can inspect the damage and asses. I didn’t see anything in the water but it felt like the boat wrapped itself around something and it has caused some pretty significant damage to my foil. I was instructed to carry out an internal inspection of the boat and there does not appear to be any structural damage to the hull that I can see. For now I am going to continue and asses when I get the chance.”
Alex and the yacht are currently in no danger and he has been consistently leading the race since it started on Sunday 6th November.