Series 4 - Ep7 - Alex Thomson Part 1

Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast continues this month with one of offshore sailing's most active campaigners,  a sailor who's career spans two decades at the highest level of the sport and includes a record equaling five Vendee Globe starts.  Alex Thomson, widely known for his Vendee campaigns sailing a series of iconic Hugo Boss IMOCA, has done much to raise awareness of offshore sailing and with his team, has been responsible for some of the most innovative developments the monohull  IMOCA Class has ever seen.

Obviously, much of Thomson's discussion in this two part podcast centres around his various Vendee Globe campaigns, but in this first episode there's much discussion about Thomson's early career path, time spent sailing with Sir Robin Knox Johnston and the result of his time spent with British business tycoon Sir Keith Mills...:

"We met at Shoreham airport, we flew to Brest, and he bought me a boat for 1.1million Euros....That level of belief, in me, at that time, was difficult to comprehend really."

Thomson is candid about his first campaign, as he is throughout the chat with Robertson, and reveals much about how, along with Sir Keith Mills, they brought Hugo Boss into what would go on to become one of the longest sponsorship partnerships in the sport.

Thomson has also had an eventful career that's involved a series of very high profile sinkings and race retirements, not least when keel damage to the original Hugo Boss famously left him floundering deep in the South Atlantic.  But the drama doesn't end with keel damage.

Having discussed the cause of a very public falling out with fellow British offshore sailor Mike Golding, "...the next day in the Sunday Times, Mike called me a jumped up little prick!", Thomson discusses how, with his keel dangling uselessly from the hull, the only chance of rescue was of course, with Mike Golding, who pulled off a daring rescue with catastrophic circumstances...:

"I was on the boat for about three hours...the wind hit, the boat leaned over, and his mast just collapsed, Mike is standing in the cockpit with his mouth open, and I'm now feeling guilty...I said to Mike, 'I am so sorry..."

In the second part of this podcast the chat about Thomson's Vendee campaigns continues, , but there's much discussion about his series of daring stunts that have netted him over 10million views on YouTube alone.