|
 Born: Bangor, Wales
Lives: Gosport, Hampshire
Class: Solo sailor and skipper of Open 60 ‘Hugo Boss’
Alex is one of the most talented and professional skippers in international yachting. At just 23 he became the youngest skipper ever to win a round-the-world yacht race, the 1998-1999 Clipper Race. Following that early success Alex sailed the winning Open 50 ‘Sail that Dream’ in the 2000 Round Britain and Ireland Race in a record time of 10 days which still stands.
In 2003, Alex was sailing captain on the “HUGO BOSS" Farr 65 for the Rolex Fastnet Race and came 2nd in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Roland Jourdain on the Open 60 "Sill".
At the end of 2003, Alex finished a close third in the Defi Atlantique solo transatlantic race on the Open 60 "AT Racing". During the race however he set a new 24 hour world speed sailing record for solo mono-hulls, covering 468 nautical miles at an average boat speed of 19.5 knots.
In 2005 Alex became the first skipper to sign up for the 3 round the world races in 3 years starting with the Velux 5 Oceans in 2006, followed by the Barcelona World Race (BWR) in November 2007, culminating in the 2008 Vendee Globe
Due to severe structural problems Alex was forced to retire from the Velux 5 Oceans, but now with a his new boat ‘HUGO BOSS’ Open 60, Alex has his sights set on becoming the first Briton to win the much coveted Vendee Globe.
www.alexthomsonracing.com
|