This Saturday 19th November at 10:35 am (French time), Alex Thomson, skipper of Hugo Boss and leader of the Vendée Globe fleet for the past six days, collided with a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) in the South Atlantic. This collision caused damage to the right foil of his IMOCA boat. The skipper is now waiting for the sea and wind conditions to calm down to carry out a more thorough inspection.
"After a fairly fast night with high averages and uncomfortable sailing, I had retracted the foil by 30% early this morning and was still quite conservative in the strong breeze. At 10:35 I was inside trying to get some rest. The boat was moving forward in 22 knots of wind under J2 and I had one reef in the mainsail. I was averaging 24 knots when I heard a big noise. The boat came to a dead stop and veered to starboard by about 20 degrees. I rushed to the deck, shocked the sheet and soon realised I'd hit something. I shocked it, let the boat move downwind and went to look at what was happening. The starboard foil was damaged and there were scratches on the starboard side of the boat. I lifted my foot for the moment. I changed sails and retracted the foil. I'll stay like this until the wind and sea calm down a bit to allow me to inspect and assess the damage. I didn't see anything in the water, but it looks like the foil is pretty badly damaged. I have checked the inside of the boat and there is no visible structural damage. I'm going to go ahead and make an assessment as soon as possible." explained Alex Thomson.
In the latest rankings at 2200 UTC, the English skipper was still more than 100 miles behind Armel le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire VIII), and was making headway at a speed of 19.1 knots, one knot less than his direct pursuer.
Update of 20/11/2016
With the damage to his starboard foil, Alex Thomson lost ground on his pursuers. Despite still high speeds, the skipper of Hugo Boss has returned 34 miles to Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire VIII), 36 miles to Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild) and 23 miles to Vincent Riou (PRB), who is still keeping up the pace set by the foil racers.
This Sunday, the skipper of Hugo Boss came back to the breakage of his foil and gave his thoughts on the rest of the race. Alex Thomson: " Yesterday I must have had a drop in morale when the foil broke. Today it's better. I still have a piece of foil sticking out of the boat and slowing me down. But I can't do anything about it, I can't retract it any further. When the conditions calm down, I'll dive in to cut off the excess foil. The boat still works well at these speeds, and the other foil is still intact. Obviously it's a disappointment, but apart from that, everything's fine on board the boat. I'm getting used to sailing a more classic IMOCA rather than a foiler! I'm in good shape and I'm still leading the race. I'm going to work hard, push the boat as much as I can and stay in the match. All is not lost. I'm going to pray that the rest of the race can be done on starboard tack..."
