Thomson vows to rejoin Vendee Race

9:09 PM Wed 12 Nov 2008 GMT

'2008 VENDEE GLOBE. Alex Thomson (UK) Hugo Boss arriving in Les sables d’Olonne port' ThMartinez &copy

Alex Thomson arrived back off Les Sables d'Olonne early Wednesday morning with his damaged Hugo Boss and had to wait until just around midday to get back into the port. The immediate plan is to lift the rig out the boat and make a full inspection of the boat. He has his technical team standing by for another race against time, one they remember only too well.

By 14h00 the mast was taken out and at 15h30 Hugo Boss was lifted from the water. Waiting for the arrival were the Alex Thomson Racing shore team, Paolo Manganelli, from Gurit who was responsible for the structural design of Hugo Boss and Pascal Finot from Finot Conq, the boats' designer.

The true extent of the damage could not be assessed until the boat was lifted out of the water. Harry McGougan, Alex Thomson Racing's Operations Director explained what they saw when the boat was lifted.

'There is a transverse crack that runs through the outer and inner skin of the boat. Having now lifted the boat out of the water we can see the underneath of the boat and the full extent of the damage. The crack extends 5 metres to almost the centreline. The unidirectional fibres that makes up the outside layer of the boat have peeled off from the start of the crack to the back of the boat.'

2008 VENDEE GLOBE. Alex Thomson (UK) Hugo Boss arriving in Les sables d’Olonne port after a crack between the aft keelbox and bulkhead.
Dammage at the back of left hand side of hull. - ThMartinez &copy

To repair Hugo Boss before next Wednesday's restart deadline McGougan explained what the team need to achieve. 'In the time scale available to us to restart the race we would have to do a full structural survey, put together a full repair plan and then put a team together the size of which we had for the repair three weeks ago.' A decision will be made tomorrow on the best way forward.

'At the moment there is no definite reason why this has happened but there is a strong possibility that the boat has hit something ,' concluded McGougan.

Paolo Manganelli's (structural engineer) initial thoughts on the cause of the crack after a visual inspection of the boat were the same. ' It's a bit too early to say very much right now, but we are not ruling out a collision with a submerged object.'

Thomson said today that if the boat is repairable within the time frame, before Wednesday 19th at 13:02h local, he aims to continue with the race.

2008 VENDEE GLOBE. Alex Thomson (UK) Hugo Boss arriving in Les sables d’Olonne port after a crack between the aft keelbox and bulkhead.
Alex with one of his shore crew - ThMartinez &copy

He told assembled media today:

What happened?

'After I went through the front I tacked, and after about six to eight hours after I tacked, I noticed there was some water just inside the boat here, and on inspection I could see there was water coming out through the skin, so there was a hole in the boat.'

Did you hit something?

'I didn't hear anything anything, it was quite bumpy anyway but for sure there we have had an impact of some kind that has broken the hull and peeled the carbon off, all the way to the back of the boat and made a hole in the boat so the boa has been taking on water for the last two days.'

And the pumps coped OK?

'The pumps were fine. It has got worse over time, but there was never any danger of me sinking.'

iDo you have an idea if it is possible to repair?

'I have no idea if it is possible to repair until we take the boat out the water this afternoon, then we will have an understanding of how big a job it is, how long it is to repair, to see if we can get it fixed and get back in the race.'

That is your aim?

'That is the goal, yes.'

Does the damage go right through the hull at that part?

'On the inside it does not look like that. But we cannot see until we see the outside when we can have a better look, and the only way is out the water.

If we can repair it in the timescale, then we will continue. We have until the 19th to leave and still be in the race, so that is our cut off date, I am not really doing it without being in the race.'

You will try to the last moment?

'We have got to look at the damage, we have jus gone through this already so we understand how long it takes to fix these things, see how big it is, and decide how long it is going to take. If it is feasibly possible in the time frame then we will.'

What will your goal be if you re-start?

'My goal last time (when he left last Sunday) was to finish..so I guess this time, will be to finish as well.'

Do you still feel confident in the boat?

'I don't see anything inherently wrong with her, being hit by a fishing boat one week and then hitting something in the water does not mean the boat is unsafe or unsound, particularly we had a good bashing upwind, which is the hardest thing for the boat and she proved fine, it was a good way to start the race really. I know some people think it is irresponsible to leave into a storm like that, but personally I think it shows where the weak points are straight away, and it is much better for it to happen then and be back here now, and to be able to fix it, than for it to happen 2000 miles from land in the Southern Ocean.'

Did it feel dangerous for you?

'It did not feel dangerous at all, it never felt dangerous at all. When I found the water ingress it was not really a surprise because the night before I had some ballast (water) leak into the boat, so the other side was wet. Initially when I saw there was water, I though it was from the other ballast tank, but instead there was a little stream, like a mini fountain inside the boat, but apart from that, it is just a shame really, I feel sad for me, and for my team and for my sponsors, to go through what we went through, three weeks ago, to get it to the start line for this to happen, is a pretty harsh situation.'

Can you imagine the impact from three weeks ago made some damage no-one has seen on the boat?

'I could not comment on that.'

2008 VENDEE GLOBE. Alex Thomson (UK) - ThMartinez &copy

Do you feel unlucky?

'After three weeks ago, if there had been one and a half metres difference (in the impact) I would have been dead, so I am still feeling quite lucky from that.

At the end of the day we have just got to get back up and fix it and get back in the race, again.'

Your sponsor, do you think he will continue with you?

'My sponsor is happy with what we are doing, in the last three weeks we have certainly shown our passion and commitment to it, as has everyone who has supported us.'

Images from Thierry Martinez on the arrival of Hugo Boss back into port.ThMartinez/Sea&Co website: www.thmartinez.com