Alex Thomson Racing: An action-packed first night for the smiling skippers on Sill
Absender: "Mary Ambler"
Datum: 02. Nov 2003 14:36
ALEX THOMSON RACING
AN ACTION-PACKED FIRST NIGHT FOR THE SMILING SKIPPERS ON SILL
Transat Jacques Vabre Monohull Class 1 – DAY ONE
2nd November 2003
Leader: Ecover (Golding/Thompson GBR)
14:00hrs GMT Position of SILL: 2nd place!
Conditions: big seas, 35 – 40 knots from South West, blue skies
Location: Exiting English Channel towards Ushant, France
* Start drama: Pindar (Richards/Sanderson GBR-NZL) get the best start, Sill (Jourdain/Thomson FRA-GBR) are hit on the line, Ecover (Golding/Thompson GBR) take early lead
* Night action: Dodging cargo ships, surviving against the high winds and nasty seas
* Open 60 casualties: the keel falls off Canadian Open 60 ‘Ciment St Laurent’ and the two skippers are airlifted to safety. ‘Loire-Atlantique’ has ripped indexsail and is making for port.
Alex Thomson and Roland Jourdain were two happy campers when we spoke to them this morning. ‘Bilou’ (Jourdain’s nick-name) summarized their first night at sea on board Open 60 Sill as “everything you wouldn’t wish for at the start of any race!” Rough seas, container ships, hull damage and high winds…all on one plate. The monohulls had a spectacular and dramatic start yesterday at 1500hrs French time in 20 knots of wind against the running tide, so there were plenty of white horses and a lot of action as the pack of 22 boats charged over the line to face head on the strongest conditions at sea in the English Channel.
Alex went on to talk about the dramas of their race so far: “We had a shocker at the start, ‘60 Sud’ barged in on port tack, turned the wheel pretty hard and smacked our bow, so I started the race hanging over the side filling in a tennis ball sized hole with sikaflex! It didn’t penetrate the first skin though and this has been repaired. We’ve been racing hard all night, the seas have been nasty. At about 11pm last night both of us were on the foredeck ready for the sail change to the ORC jib, but the wind built so quickly to about 39 knots, we were both washed right down the deck and Bilou got a cut on his hand.
“When we were off Cherbourg changing from Solent to staysail we came to within 50 yards of a boat with no lights on, and we think it was Virbac or PRB, but since then we’ve seen nobody. But we very nearly collided with a cargo ship which was coming straight for us even though we had our active echo on, lights and all. I was up on deck and had to take evasive action, and they passed 1 and a half boat lengths from our port side!
“Conditions have been manageable rather than survival, we have a great routine on board – we both stay on deck and get smashed up and down, then one of us goes and lies down for a bit, then we come back up and do it all over again! The front passed over and the wind has begun to swing round about 10 minutes ago, we tacked after the front, although for an hour we thought we might tack back but then the wind came round some more and we thought it was okay. We are just making Ushant now, and I think by the end of the day we’ll see which other boats have had to put in another tack or not to get round. Ecover is pushing hard, they have a good lead and show how strong they are upwind. We did eat into their lead overnight and before too long we’ll be back up there on their tail.
“Right now there are blue skies, it’s bloody cold though, we’ve got 2 reefs in the index and the ORC jib up, the wind is at 35 – 40 knots, heading 245 – 50 degrees. I’m having such a great time, I thrive on this kind of challenge and love being on the foredeck in 40 knots. Bilou keeps smiling all the time, it’s a pleasure to be racing with someone who only has one mood – happy!”
NEW LOOK FORMAT OF ATR.COM WEBSITE
You will be able to follow Alex Thomson on ‘Sill’ in the Transat Jacques Vabre on a new-look format of the current campaign website at www.alexthomsonracing.com, where from today Alex’s personal updates & images taken on board, plus the latest race information and boat positions will be posted daily online.
If you wish to make enquiries, sign up to receive updates or send Alex a message of support at any time please register your email through the Quick Enquiries section online or at info@at-racing.com.
ENDS
AT Racing Ltd
Address: Unit 11, Haslar Marina, Haslar Road, Gosport PO12 1NU
Tel: +44 (0)23 9252 4343 - Fax: +44 (0)23 9252 4646
Website: www.alexthomsonracing.com
Sponsorship enquiries: sponsorship@at-racing.com
General enquiries: info@at-racing.com
Media enquiries: Mary Ambler - Email: mary@at-racing.com - Mobile: +44 (0) 7887 643 583
High resolution images of Alex Thomson / Sill (on board & aerial) are available on request and copyright free.
Notes to Editors
Alex Thomson, 29 year old professional sailor from Gosport in England, is the youngest skipper ever to win a round the world yacht race after he came 1st in the Clipper ’98 race. Alex Thomson founded in 2000 and headed up the sailing side of yacht charter company, Formula 1 Sailing Ltd for 3 years. His short-handed career includes racing as co-skipper to Josh Hall on ‘Gartmore’ in the 1999 Transat Jacques Vabre. He also came 1st in the 2000 Criterion Round Britain & Ireland race, and 3rd in class in the 2000 Europe 1 New Man STAR on the Open 50 ‘Sail That Dream.com’.
Keith Mills has just been appointed CEO of the London 2012 bid for the Olympic Games and is currently Chairman and Chief Executive of Air Miles International Group BV (AMIG) which is the holding company he established in 1988 to develop the AIR MILES programme. He is also Chairman of Loyalty Management International and Loyalty Management UK Ltd, the company which recently launched the Nectar programme. Prior to founding the AIR MILES business, Mr Mills had over 20 years experience in marketing and advertising. He is also a keen sailor, and was part of the crew on board the winning boat in the Clipper ’98 RTW yacht race.
AT Racing Ltd is the new company set up by Keith Mills and Alex Thomson to manage all aspects of the Open 60 boat campaign, including shore team, marketing and communications support.
Open 60 ‘Sill Entreprises’ - Under the previous skipper, Roland Jourdain, the Lombard design Open 60 ‘Sill Entreprises’ has been on the podium many times since being launched in 1999 and broke the solo 24hr record by covering 436 miles at an average speed of 18.16 knots within days of arriving 3rd on the podium of the Vendée Globe. With trademark giant deck spreaders and rotating mast, ‘Sill Entreprises’ has been constantly optimised from build, particularly for upwind performance, which is second to none in the current fleet.
The 2004 Vendée Globe
Out of all the current five RTW yacht races, only two are single-handed, and the Vendée Globe is the only non-stop event. Held every 4 years from the port of Les Sables d’Olonne in the Vendée region on the western coast of France, this 26,000 mile solo marathon around the globe is renown as the ‘Everest’ of the sport of sailing.
The Vendée Globe was created by legendary French solo skipper Philippe Jeantot after he had won the first two editions of the solo RTW BOC Challenge race, which was competed in 4 legs. First run in 1989 with just thirteen competitors on the start line, the Vendée Globe has now become a high profile international sporting event thanks to the incredible exploits of competitors from outside France such as Pete Goss, Tony Bullimore, and more recently Ellen MacArthur.
In 2000/1, the race attracted 24 professional teams with their sponsors, plus a major following from media all around the world. The fifth Vendée Globe starts on 7th November 2004.
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