Mike Golding arrived in Les Sables d’Olonne for the start of the Vendee Globe after an uneventful delivery trip from Southampton. When he arrives down on the dock this morning, he will see Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss seriously damaged and lying alongside after she was holed and dismasted during a collision with a French trawler just outside Les Sables at 0230 this morning.

When he arrived yesterday, one of the first few skippers to do so, he was renewing old acquaintances and looking forward to some company. ‘I know that Pindar is on its way. Alex Thomson is out there doing a bit of sailing rather than a straight delivery, I think. I am not a fan of this because there is always a chance that it will make the jobs list longer, and create more worries.’

Golding’s words seem sagacious and eerily prophetic this morning but, as far as Ecover III is concerned, things are better than ever. ‘We have a few small jobs. The alternator fan belt shredded and so we have to get to the bottom of why that happened, because it took all the other fan belts with it. Overall, I am happy. We are on top of what we need to do. The rig looks great, we have lavished more care and attention there than ever before, and I am sure we are the best we have ever been there, banishing any worries. I am pretty confident now.’

Photo: Mark Lloyd