Sailor Alex Thomson delighted to have escaped Doldrums without any Vendee Globe race worries

The Gosport-based sailor was the first of the 32-strong fleet to cross the equator into the southern hemisphere on Wednesday.

The 46-year-old clocked 9 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes - slower than when Thomson established a new record for crossing the equator in the 2016/17 Vendee race of nine days, seven hours and two minutes.

Despite a gruelling start to the race - which saw the solo sailors navigate changing weather systems and a tropical storm - Thomson passed through the Doldrums with no major issues onboard his £5.5m Hugo Boss yacht.

The Doldrums is a belt around the Earth extending approximately five degrees north and south of the equator.

Here, the prevailing trade winds of the northern hemisphere blow to the southwest and collide with the southern hemisphere’s driving northeast trade winds.

As a result, there is often little surface wind.

‘I definitely expected the start of the race to be tough but it’s not normal for it to be that intense, that’s for sure,’ said Thomson.

Normally you wouldn’t have to negotiate all of these changing weather systems and then a tropical storm; that’s never really happened before. So yes, it’s been tough with very little sleep.

‘But I like to start the race hard. For me, the start of the race is to the southern ocean and then, if you can survive the southern ocean and you get round Cape Horn, at that point you can head home on a boat which has already done a lot of miles and which you know is in good shape.

‘That’s what we’re looking to do”.

The solo, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world yacht race has only ever been won by a French skipper since its inception in 1989.

Thomson, however, finished the last two editions of the race - in 2012/13 and 2016/17 – in third and second place respectively.

‘I’m always desperately worried to lose out in the Doldrums,’ he continued. ‘So I’m very pleased to have made it in and out quickly.

‘Now I find myself in the lead which is exactly where I like to be. If you’re following, then you can get left behind and before you know it, everything can be over.

‘I go out there to try and win the race. That’s what I’m here to do.

‘And to be in this position at the equator, with the boat in good shape, gives me a lot of confidence in her performance but also in my own capabilities and decision making.’

As of this morning, Thomson held a narrow lead over Thomas Ruyan, who was only around eight nautical miles adrift in his boat LinkedOut.

Portsmouth-born Samantha Davies was ninth, around 260 nautical miles adrift of Thomson.