British solo ocean racer Alex Thomson’s IMOCA Open 60 Hugo Boss emerged from the boat shed last Friday ready to be slipped back into the water of Les Sables d’Olonne’s Port Olona. There is no obvious sign of the substantial damage inflicted in a collision with a local fishing boat two weeks ago.

A team of nearly 30, comprising specialist engineers, boat builders, riggers
and mast builders have completed the repairs to the mast of Hugo Boss which was
broken in two by the impact of the collision, and to a three metres by two
metres gash in the high tech carbon fibre laminate hull and the deck of the
Open 60, have collectively worked more than 1000 man hours to ensure that the
perfectly repaired boat left the Alliaura Marine boatshed on schedule.

The carefully planned operation required a replacement sleeve to be
manufactured for the mast in Auckland, New Zealand where the mast was
originally built, a complete new set of standing rigging from Valencia in Spain, and a
perfect facsimile sections of the hull and deck to be manufactured in
Vannes, north of Les Sables.