ALEX THOMSON INTERVIEW
more performance to come, a major
refit underway and being in possession
of the fastest IMOCA 60 on the planet
has the team announced that it will be
investing in a new boat for the 2020
race? After all, Thomson himself has
said on a number of occasions that the
team’s philosophy has been to look at
what performance gain they can get
at what price and decide whether it is
financially viable to implement those
decisions based on this cost/performance
analysis. Is a new boat truly necessary?
“It’s a pretty easy decision to make
when you look at the numbers,” heyears with one-design masts and keels)
monohulls with the associated design,
development and research costs. When
it seems many other events on such a
scale are struggling and reining in costs,
the IMOCAs and their flagship Vendée
Globe race are just getting stronger.
There is usually a limit of 29-30 entries
to the Vendée Globe but this restriction
is born of the number of berths in Les
Sables-d’Olonne with sufficient depth and
not of the number of interested parties.
Despite the last edition of the
race having the largest number of
international entrants in its history, the
bulk of the fleet and the majority of
the serious campaigns remain French.
“It’s easy not to grasp the popularity of
the Vendée Globe in France,” Thomson
says. “I read recently that in a survey,
nationwide that 87 per cent of the French
population know what the Vendée Globe
is. Not only that but there is still a great
deal of interest in the adventure of the
race. Some skippers are not so keen on
that but the fact remains that there are
probably 10 boats on the startline with a
realistic shot of the podium and another
15 either starting off on their first Vendée
or in it for the adventure or many other
reasons. But the French are just as behind
those guys as they are the winners.”
It has long been speculated that it isthisadventurespiritthathelpstheclass
to thrive, maintaining value in the fleet
and creating a relatively stable market.
But certainly another key aspect is the
IMOCA set up itself. The acronym
stands for International Monohull Open
Class Association and it is the association
which is key. The key positions in the
association are made up of those who
are a part of the class. As such, decisions
are made at the general meetings in front
of interested parties and by interested
parties. Thomson himself is vice-
president of the association and it is this
involvement from the sailors and teams
which helps to keep the class stable,
a host of voices all with a key stake in
maintaining value, maintaining the ethos
of the class and also retaining a fun boat,
which is a technical challenge to design.FUTURE BALANCE
But there is a delicate balancing act to
be done too. Before he left the Volvoexplains. “The winning time each go
has been 109 days for the first race in
1989 then 110 days in ’92 – which is
the only time it has ever taken longer- then it is 105 days, 93 days, 87 days,
84 days, 78 days and now just 74 days.
“I think it is pretty likely we will see
another four/six days knocked off the
record for the latest generation of boat.
With that in mind, if you are serious
about giving yourself the best chance of
winning you need to have a new boat,
developing an old one is comparatively
less good as an investment. I have gone
round in a previous generation boat
before [Thomson’s first podium came
in the 2012-13 edition of the event
where he was two days off the leader’s
time] and I don’t think that is the way
to go if you seriously want to win.”
Over and again the phrase ‘if you
are serious about winning’ or words to
that effect come from Thomson during
our chat and it is clear that his drive
to win the race he first entered back
in 2004-05 is not only undiminished
but appears to be building.
And there is something else there too,
the confidence of someone who knows
he has the strongest chance to come
home at the head of the field. “I’ve been
third, then I’ve been second, there is only
onewaytogofromthere,”hesaystome
repeating the mantra he offered after
he crossed the finish this time last year
(having made that phone call). “It looks
at the moment like we will have four to
six teams building new boats for the next
event and we will get underway with our
new boat in May this year. It’s a bit of a
cliché but the thing, probably a bit of a
unique thing, about the Vendée is that
it is usually won or lost before you cross
the startline. With the team around me,
we have all been doing this for so long,
we have so many hours behind us, so
much experience as a team, I think we
are giving ourselves the strongest start.”IMPRESSIVE IMOCAS
Another four to six IMOCA 60s would
mean potentially 12 or so of the new
semi-foiling generation of boat on the
startline of the next Vendée Globe. Lest
we forget, these are not cheap boats.
These are top of the line development
(albeit within a box rule and in recentAbove
Hugo Boss gets
the refit treatment- a new boat is
planned for 2020
It is easy not to grasp the
popularity of the Vendée Globe
among the French... 87% know of it
JOE WATSON; CLEO BARNHAM/ALEX THOMSON RACING; SPORTOGRAPHY.TV20 Yachts & Yachting April 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk