Alex Thomson

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Alex Thomson was sitting on an off-shore sailors board meeting when he started to giggle uncontrollably. Around the table sat some of the biggest and most respected names in ocean-going yachting. They just stared at him until someone asked what on earth had got into him.

“Out of the eight people present six were skippers who had been turned upside down, or had their mast disbanded or who had suffered massive keel problems, and all in the Vendee Globe,” he explained. “I just looked at them all and said: “Look at the crap we go through, and we’re all going to do it again.””

That was earlier this year, after the 2008-9 Vendee had finished, a race that Thomson was highly fancied to win until a French trawler rammed into Hugo Boss before the he had even got started, damaging the carbon fitting attaching the boom to the deck, and forcing him to retire within days.

A couple of months later he received a phone call from the French designer of his boat, who also happened to design the boat that finished second. “He said: “Alex, I feel sorry for you. You were faster than the boat that came second. You were better prepared. You should have won.”” He grins. “That didn’t exactly make me feel better.”

And yet Thomson, this time with his boat captain, Ross Daniel, will embark on another of the great races, the Transat Jacques Vabre next weekend, which is a two-handed race following the coffee route of Le Havre to the Americas over three weeks.

Just in case anyone thinks the TJV is a gentle sail on a pond compared to the round-the-world Vendee Thomson, who finished second in this race back in 2003, has news.

“The first time, in 1999, the finish line was Colombia and as we came in all we could hear was gun shots,” the 35-year-old recalls. “It was in that race that a guy went overboard and was never seen again.

“Then, in 2003, we left Le Havre and were hit almost immediately with 20 foot waves and winds ranging from 35 to 65 knots. When you tried to sleep your whole body would be lifted off the bed every three seconds. I went without any sleep for a week, I wore a dry suit for the whole time, and it was a horrendous experience.

“And then there’s the course. This time it’s Le Havre to Costa Rica and, depending on the winds, you can go as south as the Cape Verde Islands, and as north as Newfoundland. If it’s the latter you could be dodging icebergs. And because the TJV could take 17 or 18 days, it’s all-out for the whole length of the race, as opposed to the Vendee where you obviously need to take a break or two. I’m not saying it’s harder than the Vendee. Nothing, in any sport, is harder than the Vendee. But the TJV has its moments, believe me.”

This will be the last time he races in his current boat, replacing it in time for the Route du Rhum, another transatlantic race, next October. The new Hugo Boss is even quicker than the present model, according to Thomson, although the mast, at 32 metres from the sea, is also higher. “It’s the thing I hate doing most of all,” he explains, referring to climbing up the mast. “And now I’ve gone and got one even higher.”

Then it is the Barcelona double-handed World Race, in which he came second in 2006-7, before a third assault on the Vendee. Thomson has tasted success as a solo, round the world sailor. He became the youngest skipper ever to win such a race when he won the Clipper Race in 1999, and he still possesses the world record for the most amount of nautical miles achieved in a 24-hour period, a staggering 468nm with an average speed of almost 20 knots.

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But he’s also endured the hardships, not just with his two retirements so far in the Vendee, but his near-death experience in the Velux Five Oceans when former foe turned friend Mike Golding turned his boat around in the teeth of the Southern Ocean and saved his life.

Despite all this his eyes are firmly fixed on another Vendee attempt in 2012. “I’ve got at least another two in me,” he says. “But that depends if I can win. If not, who knows how many times I’ll have a go. The Vendee is an addiction for all of us. You can’t let it go until you’ve gained at least parity.”

Earlier this year the British contingent did well in the Vendee, with Sam Davies finishing fourth, Brian Thompson fifth, Dee Caffari 6th and Steve White also completing the course. Ironically Thomson and Golding, two of the pre-race favourites, were both forced to retire.

Now all bar White return in the Transat Jacques Vabre, and Thomson believes it is a statement that the British are now challenging the French dominance of major ocean racing.

“We’ve dominated Olympic sailing now for a long time with the likes of Ben Ainslie,” he argues. “But it’s only been in the last ten years that we’ve started becoming a force in the big, ocean races. You can argue that we used to lead the way with the likes of Francis Chichester and Robin Knox-Johnston, or even Sir Francis Drake. Now we have a batch of very talented and experienced sailors, and I’d say any one of the 15 crews in the race – and that includes the four British boats – stand a chance of winning. We just need to claim a significant victory to really announce ourselves.”

Ellen Macarthur, of course, put the Vendee on the map in this country when she finished second in 2001. Last week the Dame announced that she would be concentrating on environmental campaigning from now on.

Thomson, for one, pays enormous tribute to the girl from landlocked Derbyshire. “British sailing and sailors like me owe Ellen a great deal,” he says. “Finishing second in the Vendee not only brought the race and what we do into the public domain, but it really inspired me. She also made sponsors realise how valuable our sport is. Without her I wouldn’t be earning any money now. And by revealing her emotions as she sailed on video she made it far more interesting to the public.”

Will Thomson reveal his emotions if he wins the Transat Jacques Vabre? “I’ve shed a tear before, and I will shed a tear again before my career’s over with,” he adds. “But you’ll never catch me doing it.”

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Watch our exclusive video tour of Alex's boat.