Having known Alex Thompson for a few years, I thought that a trip to Bilbao to see him and the other seven competitiors set off on the 3 leg 30,000 miles race  was well worth the effort and also a good excuse to renew a more than passing acquaintainence with great spanish food, wine and hospitality.

My partner Alicia and I arrived in the race village at the marina at Getxo on the Friday afternoon before the Sunday start. We soon discovered that two of the boats had delayed their starts ; the Open 50 of Kiwi Graham Dalton because of mast and spreader damage sustained a few days earlier and the Open 60 of  American Tim Troy, which remarkably did not pass the strict class stability rules and would subsequently move to La Rochelle for an extra 300kg of lead to be added to the keel.

On the pontoons, the Open 60s of Alex (Hugo Boss) and Mike Golding (Ecover) were clearly in the highest state of race readiness and were in stark contrast to Sir Robin Knox Johnson's 'Grey Power' which, while clearly seaworthy did not benefit from the substantial budgets and full time professional support enjoyed by the other two British skippers. Alex confirmed that Hugo Boss was the best prepared it had been for any of his previous races; a better position than at the start of the Vendee Globe in 2004 when the electronics engineer was pushed into a RIB 10 minutes before the start, shouting the unforgettable words, "I'll e-mail you and tell you how to make it all work". We briefly wished good luck to Sir Robin, Kojiro Shiraishi, the charming Japanese competitor, Bernard Stamm and Unai Basurko the local favourite and left them to their preparations, as we retired for some well earned Tapas and several glasses of Rioja.

Race day Sunday October 22 dawned grey and gusty. There was a press conference scheduled for 09.00 when the skippers would come to a stage in front of the crowd, Press and TV. Sir Robin arrived to the loud accompaniment of the Queen song, "Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time", and after a few short sentences, left to huge cheers and applause and walked to the pontoon to take a RIB out to Grey Power. 

Mike Golding then came on the stage to the theme of Star Wars and was similarly brief with comments, as like all the competitors he just wanted to get on with the race. We knew Alex was going to do something a little special for the interview and to the raucous chords of "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones, he bounded onto the stage dressed not in sailing gear but in an immaculate Hugo Boss suit with mirror polished shoes looking ready to attend a movie premiere rather than the start of one of the hardest yacht races in the sailing calendar. The theme continued, when to many cheers he was joined by four gorgeous models, dressed for the catwalk, who after posing for the cameras, joined Alex on the walk down to the pontoon. Die hard traditionalists will not be impressed but I'm sure the sponsors were delighted.

We watched the start from the Hugo Boss support boat in a Force 5, gusting 6, offshore Southerly wind. All of the skippers delay to the last possible moment before hoisting their mains but need to do so before the shore teams have to leave the yachts, 10 minutes before the start. Most of the skippers had hoisted their mains to a number 1 reefing position but we waited intently as Hugo Boss and Ecover were the last with bare poles. Mike Golding finally hoisted to within a metre of the mast head and we then waited to see how Alex would respond. To anyone that knows how Alex sails, there was only ever going to be one answer and the 'Crash and Burn Kid' , did not disappoint as he triumphantly hoisted the main to the top of the mast.

A cat and mouse game ensued between Ecover and Hugo Boss during the final countdown but with Alex ideally positioned on a beam reach some 200 metres ahead of Ecover, he timed his approach to the line perfectly, unfurling the headsail to accelerate the last few metres and crossing the line first, some 10 seconds ahead of Golding.

It was tremendous sailing and hugely exciting but as we now know in less than 24 hours the fleet was hit with 70 knot winds and mountainous seas which forced all but Bernard Stamm and Kojiro Shiraishi back to port. Thankfully they are all safe and with the damage repaired, are now all back racing.

There is going to be some exciting sailing over the next six months and many of us I know will be following the race.

I hope to see them all back safely in Bilbao in April next year.     

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