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Having been at the finish of the 2000 Vendee to see both Michel Desjoyeaux and Ellen MacArthur cross the line, and being at the start in 2004 to see Nick Moloney start, I had some idea of what a massive event it is. But it was not till actually competing that I could fully appreciate the Vendee Globe Race.
The effort that every team makes to get to the start, the scale of the organisation behind it, and the level of public support are astounding. I feel very fortunate to have been one of the few people who have sailed solo non-stop around the world, and many thanks to Andrew Pindar for backing my campaign.
The race does test you more than any other, with its duration and isolation, but it also gives you so many experiences in return. Most of them good, just a couple of them bad, but all of them unforgettable.
The sea is not malicious, but it will always find any weakness in a boat over such a long voyage, and having a very untested boat, meant that inevitably I was doing a lot of repairing along the way. This started in earnest as I passed Australia and continued every day until the arrival. On the leg back up the Atlantic I was running on just a wing and a prayer, and arrived with my keel only barely attached to the boat.
So it was immensely satisfying to finish and to know that I had to use all my experience and determination to get around the planet. And when I was on that race I really wanted to come back to the same course again, and to attempt the Jules Verne Trophy - sailing the same waters at not a 12.5 knot average, but at double that speed!
This is the biggest, fastest ocean going sailing craft on the planet, and it is a great honour to be invited to sail to join this French team on the ultimate racecourse, and for the ultimate trophy in ocean sailing, the Trophee Jules Verne. No limits, around the world, in the fastest time possible.
Banque Populaire, a large French bank that was created from the amalgamation of many regional banking groups, has been a great supporter of French sailing for decades, both in youth sailing, in the Olympics and in ocean racing. The skipper is Loick Peyron, a legend of French sailing, and the crew are talented and experienced with this boat.
This winter from late October we will be on standby to find the perfect weather window to launch from Ushant island off the NW tip of France, down the Atlantic, around the bottom of Africa, through the Southern Ocean past Australasia, South America, then back up the Atlantic. It’s a 28,000 mile course and the current record stands at 48 days, an average speed of 24.5 knots. It’s no easy task!
Christmas Eve 2006, settling down to wrapping presents, and I get a call out of the blue from Mike Sanderson, who had just won the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Spain to Cape Town on ABN Amro 1. One of his key guys, Mark Christensen, had injured his arm on that first stage and had to sit out the second stage on doctor’s orders. Mike asked if I might be able to come out the very next day, but I managed to negotiate my departure until Boxing Day! But it was an opportunity too good to miss, as it was a race I had always followed avidly since the first edition in 1973.
Arriving in Cape Town was great and I was welcomed into the team, and it was fascinating to see a big, fully professional shore team running the two ABN boats. Ben Wright, who I had worked with in the Steve Fossett years, was ably running the shore side.
The boats were similar in layout to the IMOCA boats I was accustomed with, but certainly more powerful and faster, regularly sailing a knot or two above the wind speed. The crew were super well drilled and sail handling was much quicker of course. Sidney Gavignet was one of my watch captains, he is now on Oman Sail.
It was 6000 miles of great sailing, I steered for about a quarter of the distance and just loved the opportunity to sail a fast monohull, with a brilliant team, down the endless waves of the Southern Ocean at 25 knots. We had a lead of 300 miles at one point as we just sneaked ahead of a cold front, but we lost it all as we parked in a high pressure on the approach to Eclipse Island. Fell to second, and then clawed back to the lead. What a race, and I arrived for the very first time in Australia in style!
To view pictures from this project click here
On 8 November 2009, British sailing duo Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson started the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre race from France to Costa Rica, onboard the Open 60 racing yacht Aviva.
The Transat Jacques Vabre was the first competitive race since the epic Vendée Globe round-the-world race which saw Thompson finish fifth and Caffari finish sixth out of 30 starters.
Brian and Dee were aboard Aviva on the start line with 13 other Open 60 racing yachts of which 11 competed in the Vendée Globe and three were British. The 4,720 mile course, following the historic coffee trade route, was the first time Caffari and Thompson sailed two-handed together having been rivals throughout the 2008/09 edition of the Vendée Globe.
Having been at the finish of the 2000 Vendee to see both Michel Desjoyeaux and Ellen MacArthur cross the line, and being at the start in 2004 to see Nick Moloney start, I had some idea of what a massive event it is. But it was not till actually competing that I could fully appreciate the Vendee Globe Race.
The effort that every team makes to get to the start, the scale of the organisation behind it, and the level of public support are astounding. I feel very fortunate to have been one of the few people who have sailed solo non-stop around the world, and many thanks to Andrew Pindar for backing my campaign.
The race does test you more than any other, with its duration and isolation, but it also gives you so many experiences in return. Most of them good, just a couple of them bad, but all of them unforgettable.
The sea is not malicious, but it will always find any weakness in a boat over such a long voyage, and having a very untested boat, meant that inevitably I was doing a lot of repairing along the way. This started in earnest as I passed Australia and continued every day until the arrival. On the leg back up the Atlantic I was running on just a wing and a prayer, and arrived with my keel only barely attached to the boat.
So it was immensely satisfying to finish and to know that I had to use all my experience and determination to get around the planet. And when I was on that race I really wanted to come back to the same course again, and to attempt the Jules Verne Trophy - sailing the same waters at not a 12.5 knot average, but at double that speed!
As part of Mike Golding’s successful IMOCA 60 campaign, Brian was taken onboard to provide a navigational role during fully crewed races and to act as co-skipper during the 2003 double-handed trans-atlantic race the Transat Jacques Vabre.
Their results onboard included a 3rd in the TJV and a second in both the Calais 1000 races.
One of the most successful partnerships in sports sponsorship was between Ellen Macarthur and Kingfisher, the parent company to B&Q, and many other brands worldwide. Kingfisher supported Ellen in the Vendee Globe, a Jules Verne attempt, and then a very successful solo around the world record. In 2001, Brian was proud to be in Les Sables d’Olonne at the finish of the Vendee Globe to welcome Ellen to her amazing 2nd place, and to then skipper the boat back to the UK. Brian went on to race the boat later that year in EDS Atlantic Challenge, a double Atlantic crossing, achieving first place, and then to later sail it in the colours of Skandia to a 5th place in the Transat Jacques Vabre.
