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Alex Thomson is one of the most exciting and gifted yachstmen of his generation. A precocious talent, record breaker and indomitable spirit, Alex Thomson’s achievements are as far-reaching as the distances he has sailed. Read on to find out more about the career, epic journeys and life of the man at the helm of the HUGO BOSS yacht.

The British sailor was born on 18 April 1974 in the waterside town of Bangor in Wales, perhaps foretelling his later affinity for the sea. Alex's draw to the water is not just work, but play too. His hobby is kitesurfing, another adrenalin-fueled outlet for the round-the-world skipper. Yet there is a softer side to this thrill-seeker. Asked what he misses most at sea, his answer is immediate: "My family, without a doubt. There are times when I feel lonely and I miss them dearly." And the husband and father-of-two's most important item when sailing? "I take laminated pictures of my family to remind me of home."

Alex made an impact on the world of sailing at a young age. In 1999, aged just 25, he became the youngest skipper ever to win a round-the-world regatta, triumphing in the Clipper Race. Just a few years later, Alex followed up this win with a second place finish in the Transat Jacque Vabre, sailing between France and Brazil. Fast-forward over a decade and Alex has broken three world records while clocking up 480,000 nautical miles – a distance over 20 times the circumference of the Earth.

Charting violent waters, the Vendée Globe round-the-world race is a feat of human endurance. The course has only been finished by around 50% of those who have attempted it. Alex first took part in 2004 but was forced to retire because of damage to his boat. In the 2012-13 race he placed third, and in 2017 he came in second position, despite colliding with an object in the water which caused significant damage. Alex will embark on the Vendée Globe next in 2020, with a new HUGO BOSS yacht and his eye set firmly on first place.

HUGO BOSS and Alex Thomson have partnered since 2003 in one of the longest collaborations in the sport of sailing. HUGO BOSS sponsors the innovative IMOCA 60 yacht, and outfits Alex and his team with high-performance clothing while also wardrobing them for formal events. During the partnership, Alex Thomson and HUGO BOSS have also realised a trilogy of breathtaking stunts - the Keelwalk, Mastwalk and Skywalk - which have been watched by millions all over the world.

"So many things can go wrong, but for me it’s the one race that I’d like to win over any other."

Alex Thomson on the Vendée Globe

Discover more from BOSS sailing

Meet HUGO BOSS skipper Alex Thomson in our interview, where he reveals what it takes to beat the elements in the Vendée Globe, and why his team and his family back home are essential to success.

Known as the Everest of the Seas, the Vendee Globe is one of the toughest sporting challenges in the world. We look at the facts and figures to find out why many do not cross the finish line.

The partnership between Alex Thomson and HUGO BOSS has been truly unforgettable, with even more to come. Explore the exciting world of sailing, and shop the exclusive new capsule collection worn by Alex and his team.

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British Sailor Alex Thomson steps down from racing and turns focus to the next generation

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Alex Thomson retires - for the time being - from active racing : The boss says goodbye

Tatjana Pokorny

 ·  25.10.2021

Alex Thomson is one of the best-known players in the international sailing world. His career has always had a fairytale quality to it, alongside the competitive element. As a strong sailor and charismatic ambassador for his sport, Thomson knew how to inspire with performance and highly publicised campaigns such as "Mastwalk" or "Skywalk" alongside his main sponsor Hugo Boss. However, he was unable to achieve his one major goal - winning the Vendée Globe. With his tireless but unfulfilled pursuit of the trophy in the race of his life, Thomson often reminded us of the former exceptional tennis player Ivan Lendl, who could win everything but Wimbledon.

Thomson's career was a bit like something out of a Hollywood film right from the start: at the age of 21, the boy from the southern English peninsula town of Gosport worked in a factory that produced plastic straws. He worked night shifts. One evening, his boss came to see him, complimented him and praised the hard-working young man as an exceptionally reliable employee. If he carried on like this, said the factory boss at the time, Thomson would be promoted to night shift foreman within two years. Thomson was so deeply shaken by his inner horror at what he saw as a far from rosy outlook that he left the factory that very evening and never returned.

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A good quarter of a decade later, Thomson is now one of the most famous skippers in the world. He is one of the intrepid single-handed sailors who sail around the world in pursuit of records and adventures. At the age of only 25, Thomson made his first big mark, winning the Clipper Round the World Race and recommending himself for higher tasks with strikingly good leadership qualities and a great deal of ambition. Thomson's first appearances on the Imoca scene were 20 years ago. He has been in the same boat as main sponsor Hugo Boss for 18 years. The partners spurred on the Brit's rise and not only gave the self-made sailor, who has always remained down-to-earth and approachable, money and a wardrobe, but also provided him with a large portion of glamour on his way to the top. Thomson achieved his greatest successes at the Vendée Globe in 2012/13 with third place and in 2016/17 with second place. However, he was not granted the victory he deserved in the eyes of fans and observers. In the most recent edition in 2020/21, Thomson retired with his high-tech rocket "Hugo Boss" after a series of technical problems.

Thomson has now announced that he will not be taking part in the Vendée Globe in 2024, but has not completely ruled out the possibility of returning to the race of a lifetime in 2028, where he has set numerous speed records and has often been the centre of attention in dramatic or successful ways. Commenting on his departure from the current racing stage, Thomson said: "I've had the privilege of competing and racing in Imoca 60 regattas for nearly 20 years. I love the sport, but now the time has come to spend more time ashore with my young family. My wife Kate has raised our children singlehanded for the last ten years while I chased my dream. Now I want to support Kate and give her the same opportunity she has given me. This doesn't mean I'm retiring, just changing my role from spending most of my time at sea to more time on land."

"The Vendée Globe is the toughest sporting challenge in the world"

Thomson has always fulfilled his role as a figurehead for his sport well, willingly and authentically. He says: "Apart from being a skipper, I have always believed that it is my job to be an ambassador for our sport and to tell the story to an international audience. Over the last 20 years we have travelled to every corner of the world, from Russia to Mexico, Canada, Australia and Taiwan and even up the Yangtze River to Shanghai in China! There is a huge global fan base that follows and loves the Vendée Globe. I want to continue to promote the sport, continue to tell the story and share my knowledge and experience, but with a focus on the next generation."

Thomson and his Team 5 West Ltd want to stay together. The skipper says: "The goal has always been to win the Vendée Globe, which for me is still the toughest sporting challenge in the world, and we haven't managed that yet. This is the start of a new chapter with a new skipper and we will give him or her all the tools, knowledge, experience and environment to win." However, Thomson has not yet revealed who will take over the role as his successor. In the two decades in which he has been one of the major characters in the Imoca 60 scene, offshore sailing has changed considerably. Like Formula 1, yachts have evolved radically. Thomson and his team have also grown with the sport and have set their own standards at the limit with pioneering designs such as the latest Vendée Globe yacht "Hugo Boss". Thomson's team has captivated a global audience with award-winning stunts such as "Mastwalk" or "Skywalk" and extraordinary visual worlds.

Thomson's Technical Director Ross Daniel, who has worked alongside him for 20 years, said: "After eight races around the world we have a huge wealth of experience and have learnt a lot. We have designed and built some of the most innovative boats in the Imoca class. Our 2016 boat was considered the benchmark boat of its generation. We will continue to utilise our experience in designing and building boats and running successful campaigns and I look forward to the next campaign leading up to the Vendée Globe in 2024."

This will now be targeted without Thomson on board, who said of what may only be a temporary departure from his active racing career: "Without our partners, none of what we have achieved would have been possible, of course. I am eternally grateful to Hugo Boss for the support and loyalty they have shown me. Together we have been inspiring and inspiring people around the world for 18 years and have become a leading brand in sailing. I am so grateful to have worked so closely with the Hugo Boss team, with so many creative and inspiring people, many of whom will remain lifelong friends."

Four years ago, Thomson was additionally supported by a new technology partner, Nokia Bell Labs, which focussed its attention on the performance of the boat and Thomson itself. During the last Vendée Globe campaign, 'The Hub', an online dashboard provided live performance data for viewers as Thomson changed sails, made repairs, prepared food and slept. The platform showed fans the race and Thomson's life on board from new perspectives. "With Nokia Bell Labs by our side, we learnt so much about how to get the best out of the boat and me. We've really only scratched the surface of what's possible," said Thomson.

His words on leaving the active skipper stage: "I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey so far. I would like to thank my teams, past and present, for their commitment and the trust they have placed in me. All our partners and suppliers for their support and of course our loyal fans. The biggest thanks of course goes to my wife Kate, who has been by my side every step of the way," said Thomson.

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Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast continues this month with one of offshore sailing's most active campaigners, a sailor who's career spans two decades at the highest level of the sport and includes a record equaling five Vendée Globe starts.

Alex Thomson, widely known for his Vendee campaigns sailing a series of iconic Hugo Boss IMOCA, has done much to raise awareness of offshore sailing and with his team, has been responsible for some of the most innovative developments the monohull IMOCA Class has ever seen.

Obviously, much of Thomson's discussion in this two part podcast centres around his various Vendée Globe campaigns, but in this first episode there's much discussion about Thomson's early career path, time spent sailing with Sir Robin Knox Johnston and the result of his time spent with British business tycoon Sir Keith Mills...:

" We met at Shoreham airport, we flew to Brest, and he bought me a boat for 1.1million Euros....That level of belief, in me, at that time, was difficult to comprehend really. "

Thomson is candid about his first campaign, as he is throughout the chat with Robertson, and reveals much about how, along with Sir Keith Mills, they brought Hugo Boss into what would go on to become one of the longest sponsorship partnerships in the sport.

Thomson has also had an eventful career that's involved a series of very high profile sinkings and race retirements, not least when keel damage to the original Hugo Boss famously left him floundering deep in the South Atlantic. But the drama doesn't end with keel damage.

Having discussed the cause of a very public falling out with fellow British offshore sailor Mike Golding, " ...the next day in the Sunday Times, Mike called me a jumped up little prick! ", Thomson discusses how, with his keel dangling uselessly from the hull, the only chance of rescue was of course, with Mike Golding, who pulled off a daring rescue with catastrophic circumstances.

" I was on the boat for about three hours...the wind hit, the boat leaned over, and his mast just collapsed, Mike is standing in the cockpit with his mouth open, and I'm now feeling guilty...I said to Mike, 'I am so sorry... "

In the second part of this podcast the chat about Thomson's Vendee campaigns continues, but there's much discussion about his series of daring stunts that have netted him over 10million views on YouTube alone.  

" Hugo Boss had done a trick shot video with Martin Kymer, the German golfer, and put it on the internet and they told us they had fifty thousand views....and I went back to the team and said 'we've got to come up with an idea, put it on the internet and get more than fifty thousand views'...so we got a couple of suits...shot it....and we put it on the internet and...a million views in a week!. "

Also, Thomson talks all about the progression in design and build of the IMOCA Class, the now foiling monohull class that he and his team have been key protagonists in developing over the past twenty years of racing. The duo also cover Thomson's remaining attempts to win the Vendée Globe, and of course discuss the series of sailing stunts that have netted Thomson millions of views on YouTube, taking in the evolution of the idea, the execution of the stunts themselves and Thomson's desire to bring new audiences to his offshore campaigns are all talked through in this revealing chat.

This is a fascinating insight into the career of a man that has spent over two decades chasing a dream to win one of offshore sailing's biggest accolades, he's gone against convention, pushed boundaries of design, and suffered some well publicised failures, but most interestingly in this chat with Robertson, Alex Thomson also suggests that when it comes to trying to win the Vendée Globe, he's not quite done yet.

From Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast 

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Alex Thomson is preparing to take on the toughest race in sailing

Completing a solo round-the-world race isn’t enough for british yachtsman alex thomson. he wants to win, says aby dunsby, by aby dunsby.

Cleo Barnham

Yves Sucksdorff

Published: Thursday 20th October 2016

Crashing, sixty-feet waves. Excruciatingly cold winds one day; burning heat the next, and around 80 days of devastating, all-consuming loneliness. These are some of the challenges Alex Thomson will face when he sails solo around the world next year – and he can’t wait. Completing the 26,000-mile Vendée Globe – the only single-handed, non-stop, round-the-world race, dubbed the ‘Everest of sailing’ – is a feat that only 100 people have ever been able to achieve.

Thomson is one of the privileged few: he came third in the race in 2013, and is the fastest and youngest Briton ever to have completed the distance. "The challenges that we face day-to-day are quite big,” Thomson tells me breezily. “We’re used to dealing with large amounts of grief or problems and it kind of becomes a bit normal, really. You just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off – and keep your chin up."

To say ocean racing is dangerous is an understatement, and Thomson is no stranger to the sport’s highs and lows. In 2006, during around-the-world chase Oceans Race, the keel of his Hugo Boss racing yacht broke halfway between Africa and Antarctica, forcing him to abandon the race and be rescued by a rival. Disaster also struck earlier this year, when Thomson and his co-skipper Guillermo Altadill were airlifted to safety after their boat was capsized by a rogue wave during the Transat Jacques Vabre. The race was meant to prepare Thomson for the Vendée Globe, but that’s not going to put him off. Thomson still wants to compete. And he wants to win. "That’s the mission; that’s what’s important," he tells me.

As well as coping with constant exhaustion, Thomson must face the intense loneliness that comes with spending three months alone, without his wife and two young children. "With the VG you don’t have that security of somebody else being around. You don’t have someone to share the low moments and the highs with, so mentally it’s a tough race.

"Being away from my family, it’s one of the hardest things. Everyone asks how hard my job is, but it’s harder for my wife. She has to deal with the stress and the worry, and I’m on the boat in control of my own destiny and, generally, I don’t feel very worried or too scared. As the kids get older they understand what’s going on, and they’d prefer their dad to be at home, rather than racing around the world. So it does make it pretty hard."

Preparing for the race is a mental feat in itself. Thomson has worked with sports psychologist Ken Way, whom he has known since he started sailing as a teenager. "I can tell him about the challenges I face, and he comes up with an idea for how to combat those things and make it easier for me. It’s difficult being in the Southern Ocean 2,000 miles away from anybody at my age [41], travelling at 34 knots in the middle of the night, and you’re trying to sleep but your brain’s screaming at you that you’re going to die. I’ve worked with him to understand how to get my body to relax and how to feel OK about it."

You’re trying to sleep but your brain’s screaming at you that you’re going to die

Though the mental strength required is almost unfathomable, the training – and the race – are tough physically, too. "Fitness-wise the main priority is not getting injured, so we make sure that doesn’t happen. There’s a cardio element, a strength element and a flexibility element. There’s plenty of exercise."

Once on board, it’s crucial that Thomson stays well-fuelled to keep his brain alert. "Ninety percent of [the food] is freeze-dried, so it’s stuff like energy bars, peanuts, noodles, teas and coffees." Hardly the food of dreams, and tucking into a proper meal is top of the list for Thomson when he returns home from a race. On board the boat, though, it’s what his body needs. "The body quite likes the boring food. It doesn’t particularly like the step back to land again," he admits. I ask how much of a struggle it is to adapt to a conventional life after long stints at sea. "I’m so used to [the sea], it doesn’t feel scary to me. It feels normal. Last time I finished the VG, it was more normal to be at sea than it was to be on land. It took weeks to get back to normal after that."

Last time I finished the Vendée Globe, it felt more normal to be at sea than it did to be on land

Thomson’s love for the sea is all-embracing. Even when he’s not racing, he spends a lot of his time on the water, kite surfing or sailing with his family – the Caribbean and the archipelago near Sweden’s Gothenburg are his favourites. What drives his obsession? "I always feel when you get on a boat – it doesn’t actually matter how big it is, it could be a great big ship – once you get out onto the ocean and leave sight of land, it gives you a real understanding of how small we are as human beings. I find that a very humbling experience." For Thomson, it seems the sea offers a sense of tranquillity he can’t find on dry land, even when the waves are raging. People say you should do one thing every day that scares you. Alex Thomson just likes to take things to extremes.

HUGO BOSS – The boat

The Vendée Globe begins on 6 November 2016. For more info, visit vendeeglobe.org

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