Can Thomson still pull off his mission impossible?
Exhausted Brit and his battered boat are so close to piece of history ... if time doesn’t run out
ALEX THOMSON’S choice of film on board his racing yacht has been appropriate since he heard something go bump i n the night two months ago. ‘I have been watching Mission Impossible,’ he told The Mail on Sunday, via satellite phone. ‘It seemed about right given what happened.’
The reference is to the early hours of November 19, when his Hugo Boss yacht was leading the Vendee Globe, with 4,500 miles of the 24,500 ticked off. That morning he clattered into an unknown object as he slept and sheered off his starboard foil, which was not serious enough for him to head for the nearest land mass — Brazil — but certainly should have been the end of his challenge to become the first non-French winner of this race.
Instead, he goes into the final stretch of the marathon about 100 miles behind France’s Armel Le Cleac’h — and closing. At one stage the deficit was as much as 800 miles. At others he has brought that back down to 50.
Now, as the leading two yachts zig-zag up the Atlantic to the finish in France, the question is: has Thomson enough time remaining to complete a stunning comeback, with Le Cleac’h expected to arrive on Thursday.
Thomson’s hope resides largely in the knowledge that the remaining weather conditions are likely to favour the strong side of his yacht, having spent the majority of the past six weeks relying on his damaged flank.
The routing software used by Thomson’s team anticipate the pair finishing within an hour of one another. Thomson, in his fourth tilt at solo sailing’s biggest crown, said: ‘It could be very, very close. I’m fighting as hard as I can to get him.
‘It has been a hard race. It is always hard but this has been frustrating, when you think what might have happened without the damage. But we are in this fight. After the loss of my foil I wasn’t really expecting to be able to compete. The weather in this race has been 70-30 in favour of my bad side, whereas predominantly it would be about 60-40, so I really wasn’t expecting to do as well as I have.
‘The first couple of days after it happened I talked strongly about still being in it but inwardly I was waiting for the inevitable to happen and just fall further behind. But when the inevitable didn’t happen it gave me some strength. Now I’m right in this. The pressure is on Armel, definitely. I I’m the wounded warrior in a boat t that has not been 100 per cent for months. Armel has come second in this race twice and has had 800 miles reduced to 50 miles on one o occasion. Personally I’m not feeling a any pressure. The weather should su suit me from here on in, so it will end up very close. I feel I have a chance b but it is going to be very tough.’
Assuming Thomson avoids serious damage in the final stages, a second-placed finish will at least match the feat of Dame Ellen MacArthur, who was runner up in 2001. That stands as the finest non-French result in race history.
Thomson finished third four years ago, having been forced to retire in his first two attempts at this brutal marathon. Thomson said: ‘It has been a slog. I have been OK with injuries. In the second week I cut my finger while making a repair to a line but all in all so far in the race I have been lucky in this aspect.
‘It has been quite tough mentally as it always is. It is a full-on race and there is a value in trying to find distractions away from sleeping for a few minutes here and there and sailing the boat. I read a Bernard Cornwell book and I watched Mission Impossible over the course of about a week. But I’m out here to win a race. Thankfully I still have a chance of doing that.’
And his plans to relax after the race? Thomson’s wife, Kate, has booked a sailing holiday in the Caribbean! ‘I can’t imagine a better holiday,’ he said. ‘It’s a catamaran — four double cabins, air conditioning, a fridge and a freezer. We have an ambition to sail around the world with our kids [Oscar and Georgia] in five or six years. We use the holidays so they get used to it.’