Vendée Globe: Courage key as Alex Thomson Racing unveil HUGO BOSS for glory bid

It is hoped this will lead the team to victory in the 2020-21 Vendée Globe round-the-world race.

The IMOCA boat, HUGO BOSS, is the product of more than two years of painstaking design and build work undertaken by the ocean racing team, together with more than 100 naval architects, engineers and boat builders.

‘What makes us one of the most exciting teams in this sport is that we display the courage to lead,’ said skipper Alex Thomson, as HUGO BOSS was lowered into the water for the very first time.

‘We innovate, we push boundaries and we’re not afraid to do things differently.

‘We accept that, in doing so, we might not always be right.

‘But we are certainly not afraid to explore things that have never been done before.’

Designed in partnership by the Alex Thomson Racing technical team – led by design manager Pete Hobson – and French naval architects VPLP, the revolutionary new boat was built in Hampshire, close to the ocean racing team’s home base of Gosport.

Spearheaded by world-renowned British boat builder Jason Carrington, the build itself began back in June 2018 and has involved more than 50,000 hours of specialist construction.

HUGO BOSS – the name carried by all six of the team’s previous IMOCA boats – is a purpose-built 60ft long carbon fibre yacht, weighing 7.6 tonnes and featuring state-of-the-art hydrofoils.

Stewart Hosford, CEO of Alex Thomson Racing, said: ‘It’s about bringing together the best in the world in every single area, in the relentless pursuit of excellence, of perfection.’

Thomson and his team will now undertake a period of testing before the new HUGO BOSS is officially launched in September.

From there, the boat will debut in the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race in October 2019 before Thomson undertakes his first solo race in the New York to Vendée in June 2020.