Testing time for Hugo Boss, with one week to go

by Véronique Teurlay on 2 Nov 2008
While the other skippers were mostly meeting the public, fulfilling their sponsor and media requirements, or some still enjoying a final helping of home comforts, over a chilly final weekend on ‘terra firma’ before next Sunday’s start, Alex Thomson started the testing process for his freshly repaired IMOCA Open 60 Hugo Boss today off Les Sables d’Olonne.

Hugo Boss went back into the water today in the commercial dock and at 1630hrs this afternoon Thomson and some of his team took the boat out for a two hours trial to load up and check the repairs which were made to hull and deck, and to the mast which was spliced back together.

'We have a few more stages to go yet with testing with the repair and testing. My focus and drive are to make it to the Vendée Globe start line. I could not have got here without the support from everyone around me, and I will be forever grateful.' Thomson emphasised again today.

While remaining prudent and building the stresses and strains on the boat progressively the Hugo Boss team plan to take every advantage presented by the brisk, but cold winds which have been blowing and are forecast to continue.

After her short break with friends and family, enjoying the local Vendée area, Dee Caffari spent a busy day entertaining guests of AVIVA France, while after a short break at home on the Isle of Wight with his young family Brian Thompson has returned to Les Sables d’Olonne, in readiness for the official naming and baptism of Bahrain Team Pindar which will take place Sunday afternoon in the Race Village in Les Sables d’Olonne.

Peace in the Basque Country.

Pakea means peace in the Basque language and Bizkaia is simply the name of the area around Bilbao. Through his IMOCA Open 60 campaing, Unai Basurko, the only competitor whose principal backing is from a regional authority, is aiming to change the image of the Basque country, coloured so much, by what has gone on in this part of Spain. At the age of 35, Unai is preparing to set sail on his second round the world race (after finishing third in the Velux 5 Oceans in 2007). For him, taking part in the Vendée Globe is a dream, which is about to come true and a way to follow in the wake of the Spanish sailor, José Luis de Ugarte, who took part in the 1992 Vendée Globe and died earlier this year.

Dr Jean Yves Chauve, the race doctor, talking about the progress that has been made in the area of medical assistance:

'It's huge, absolutely incredible. In 1993, when Bertrand de Broc had to put stitches in his tongue, we communicated using faxes. We had to wait a quarter of an hour or longer between me sending the message and him receiving it. Considering we were dealing with an emergency situation, that certainly complicated matters. Fifteen years later, we have moved on to video-conferencing. Live from our computer at home, we can guide someone through an operation in a boat in the middle of nowhere. Technology has moved on to such an extent that we can now begin to talk about virtual medicine. In this area, the Vendée Globe is the perfect experimental lab.'

Why the number 101?

All of the boats have a number on the hull and on their mainsail. This is not a number that is handed out automatically. In most cases, it has been chosen by the skipper usually having a personal significance. 101, the number displayed by Foncia, is Alain Gautier's lucky number. He, of course, was also sponsored by Foncia and indeed won the 1992 Vendée Globe. Michel Desjoyeaux, the skipper of the Farr-designed boat, simply wished to keep the same number.

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/