New 3,600 mile race for sailor Alex Thomson in countdown to win Vendee Globe for the first time

The Gosport-based sailor is due to start the Vendée-Arctic-les Sables d’Olonne, a 3,600-mile solo ocean race around a big triangle reaching up to the limits of the Arctic Circle, on July 4.

In order to take place, the new race has had to adapt to the pandemic.

There will not be a Race Village at the start and no reception for the general public.

The sailors will be invited to make their way directly to the start line from their home port without stopping at a pontoon.

Before the race, they will also have to take a blood test and put themselves into self-isolation for five days.

‘This will be the only solo competitive and technical offshore race that the skippers will be able to take part in before the start of the Vendée Globe, and that is why it was so important to ensure it takes place,’ explained Jacques Caraës, Race Director for the Vendée-Arctic-les Sables d’Olonne and the Vendée Globe.

‘In terms of racing, the sailors need to be in solo mode. Technically, they need to validate the modifications carried out this winter in the yards. Finally, it will also offer eleven skippers the possibility of qualifying for the solo round the world race.’

Thomson must sail a minimum of 2,000 miles in the race in order to qualify for the Vendee Globe, a solo round the world odyssey seen as the toughest event in sailing, due to begin on November 8.

He is getting closer to becoming the first non-Frenchman to win the Globe, a race held every four years and first held in 1989.

After failing to finish in 2004/05 and 2008/09, Thomson was third in 2012/13 and runner-up to Armel Le Cleac’h in 2016/17 - finishing around 16 hours behind the winner in a time of 74 days, 19 hours, 35 minutes and 15 seconds.