Alex Thomson

omson’s choice

Where next a er years of Vendée Globe campaigns? Georgie Corlett-Pitt chats to Alex omson as he launches an exciting new project…

lex omson may have relinquished the wheel when he announced his decision not to go again for the next Vendée Globe, but he has certainly not let go of his passion for solo o shore sailing.

Far from it. For the last 12 months, the ve-time Vendée veteran has been seeking a way to channel his expertise and pass on the knowledge he gained from two decades of campaigning his IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss – during which he broke multiple world records and scooped two Vendée podium positions.

Of many applications and o ers, he has narrowed it down to one. Now, the hard work begins with the announcement of an exciting new partnership that sees Canadian businessman Scott Shawyer as president and omson as mentor of an all-new, fully professional o shore sailing team. – not to mention technical, with the advent of fully foiling IMOCAs likely by the 2028 Vendée. But there is both eagerness and con dence, and Shawyer – delighted to have omson’s backing – has described him as “the best in the business”.

Canada Ocean Racing aims to become the rst ever Canadian team to complete the Vendée Globe. Along the way, they plan to spearhead the development of o shore sailing in Canada by inspiring others, creating performance pathways, and by constructing a groundbreaking, long-term business. omson will be providing his unrivalled expertise both on and o the water, and says the aim is to enter a competitive boat in the 2028 Vendée Globe; for 2032, the target will be to top the podium. e current intention is for Shawyer to be the race skipper – but that’s not set in stone, as the scope of this campaign stretches way beyond one person. e team is also considering entering e Ocean Race in future – although the forthcoming start in January 2023 is way too close to be realistic, as is the next edition of the Vendée in 2024.

Instead, this is a seriously big picture campaign in a class that is becoming ever more competitive

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Scott Shawyer and Alex omson

Inspirational impact

Thomson himself is aware of the difference a good mentor can make; several helped shape the early stages of his own career, including Kevin Townsend, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Sir Keith Mills – all of whom he says “have had huge influences in my life. Now it’s nice to be able to start doing the same.”

Thomson is already recognised as one of the highest profile ambassadors for our sport; as well as his racing accolades, his trilogy of audacious stunts on board Hugo Boss have drawn many millions of views worldwide, and he has spent many years helping to shape the IMOCA 60 class.

His role in this new project he says is a “natural t” and – as well as enabling him to spend more time with his young family when not in Canada – he is looking forward to a fresh direction and to promoting the sport to new audiences. “I get to carry on living the dream,” he smiles.

He’s also hugely excited about working with Shawyer, who was inspired to do the Vendée while watching the last edition during lockdown at a time when he was su ering from anxiety, and drew energy and motivation from following the race.

But, surprisingly perhaps, omson’s chosen protégé is no stereotypical rookie, rather a successful businessman with a penchant for adventure and a philanthropic vision to spread the sport of o shore sailing. Equally unexpected is the fact that, despite being a lifelong sailor, at the age of 50, Shawyer has only a small amount of o shore experience; the delivery of the team’s newly acquired IMOCA 60 from Portsmouth, UK to Halifax, Canada, coming as something of a baptism of re. His previous sailing experience had largely been in dinghies, A-Class cats and cruising yachts, but for a man who counts trekking to the North Pole for charity, and representing Canada in downhill ski racing among his other sporting achievements, he is clearly not short of grit.

He also has, according to omson, a deep-running passion for the sport together with resolute determination and a proven ability to commit – traits which omson himself identi es with, and which are fundamental building blocks in a campaign of this sort.

“He’s an inspiration. I take my hat o to him, I really do,” omson says. “ ere are lots of things you can teach about the sailing part, but you can’t teach the desire and you can’t buy the desire – that has to come from within.”

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Canada Ocean Racing's newly acquired IMOCA 60

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omson in pensive mood

BELOW

Entrepreneur, philanthopist, adventurer and potential future Vendée skipper Scott Shawyer

Springboard for success

e newcomer now faces an intense sailing programme of 30,000-50,000 miles a year, set out for him by omson and with full support from omson’s highly respected campaign management team. It will be the springboard Shawyer needs to succeed in his ambition – but it won’t be easy. “He’s a lot less emotional than I am,” omson appraises. “He’s analytical and constantly wants to improve; he’s happy to take constructive criticism. But for someone with that amount of success in other areas behind him, it’s hard to be at the top and go right back and start again.” omson himself is relishing the opportunity to impart his knowledge to someone so determined. Coaching clearly comes naturally, as he describes himself as being from a “sailing school background”; his own big break came when he famously skippered a team of amateur sailors to win the 1999 Clipper Round the World Race, aged just 25.

But even throughout his own successful career, the o shore pro admits he hasn’t launched a programme as comprehensive and far-reaching as this.

“We’re starting from scratch,” omson explains, as he outlines Canada’s currently scant opportunities for o shore sailing. “We want to be able to thread the Vendée into people’s lives in Canada. We rst need to build an audience, and to do that there’s no better way than to have the boat there, have people see it, feel it, and talk to the skipper, the crew. Our plan in touring the boat in Canada over the next two months is to connect with people and tell the story. Once we have proved the value, then we will have a starting point for how this is going to work commercially.”

Long term strategy

omson is unlikely to pick any sort of “quick hit solution”; he reveals it took 11 years for his Hugo Boss-sponsored endeavours to attain the top levels of campaign budgets and attract others such as Nokia to the fold. “ is is a strategic plan,” he says, noting the risk of under-selling the campaign in the shortterm. “As much as we would all love it to be a non- nancial thing, ultimately money matters and you have to be able to raise the right money to give you the right tools to fully do the job.”

Shawyer will bring another level of business acumen to the table – gained through 25 years as president and CEO of leading industrial automation and systems integration company JMP Solutions – and with it a unique advantage that has led omson to a rm, “With that kind of knowledge, con dence and ability to achieve, I’m happy to stand behind them because I do, I totally believe.”

The challenge comes in applying this to sailing and to capturing the attention of Shawyer’s home nation. But with 30 percent of Canadians speaking French and given the huge popularity of offshore sailing among the French, Thomson is positive about gaining traction. The international fanbase for the IMOCA class he says is “rising exponentially” and he points to Germany’s debutant skipper Boris Herrmann who shot to “national hero” status following his fifth place in the last Vendée Globe. “With a few more countries involved we will end up truly global; I really want to be part of that story, to build-up the Vendée and this part of the sport into something big,” he says.

In addition to their current boat tour and ongoing fan engagement activities, Canada Ocean Racing’s campaign will also create youth and female talent pools, and an inspiring platform for the next generation. Training initiatives for support roles in rigging, composites and so on, will help form a much-needed technical skills base and network in Canada.

For now, the team will train using an IMOCA 60, launched in 2011 as Acciona, more recently campaigned by Offshore Team Germany in The Ocean Race Europe. A new boat is likely to follow the 2028 Vendée, the team not wanting to risk reliability issues ahead of the start. Instead, the focus will be on competing in the IMOCA Globe Series to build experience ahead of qualification for the 2028 Vendée. With more and more skippers being drawn to this pinnacle solo circumnavigation, ensuring a spot on the startline is likely to become more difficult, and Thomson knows that consistency is critical; get the fundamentals right and performance improvements will naturally follow.

Their target of winning in 2032 is, after all, a decade away.

“Scott is not just buying a boat and going off and doing it; he’s committed to doing it properly and I’m excited to see how far this person can go,” he says. “I don’t want to put any pressure on, but I’ve got high hopes for him.”

And might Thomson feel any regrets at not being on the startline himself? “Maybe, a little,” he muses – but it’s something he tries not to worry about. For now, it’s about enjoying the start of a new chapter in his own career, and in that of ocean racing.

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e boat was launched in 2011 under the name Acciona and is very much a means of getting the team up to speed with the challenges of sailing an IMOCA 60

BELOW

Shawyer brings business acumen, enthusiasm and drive to the project