When Alex Thomson abandoned Hugo Boss in the Southern Ocean, one of the things he made sure he took with him was George, the Offshore bear, he took with him on the Velux 5 Oceans single handed round the world race, to raise funds and awareness for the RNLI.
Perhaps it is no surprise that at the moment of his own life-saving rescue he should be thinking of the life-saving charity.
“When I had to abandon the boat, George the Bear had to come with me,” he said, at a party at the London Boat Show to celebrate the tenth birthday of the Offshore section of the RNLI.
Alex showed a short "deeply embarrassing" video of himself initiating the bear in the traditional manner as they crossed the Equator. "He grinned and beared it," he quipped, before becoming much more serious, and describing the moment when he woke from a half-hour sleep to find the boat on its side, and realising that his race was over.
"The top of the keel had snapped off. I was very concerned for my life. I was pretty sure the boat would not come upright again."
With the advice of his shore team he was able to make "a temporary fix” but “it became very obvious very early on that we would not be able to get anywhere," he said.
"Having to abandon the boat was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to take.
Mike (Golding) risked his life and the safety of Ecover to rescue me."
Alex revealed that when he inflated the liferaft to transfer to Ecover he was astonished how small it looked: "like a Wendy house, not a liferaft." And it took Mike quite a struggle to get him aboard.
"Then when I finally got on to Mike's boat, and got it up and running again, I had been on the boat for three hours when the mast fell down!" Alex can laugh about it now, but at the time it was a disaster - another potentially life-threatening situation.
"It is probably pretty well known that before the start of the Velux 5 Oceans, we were not on the best of terms. But we got forced into a situation where the two of us were together, and we worked together like we had always sailed together."
In blizzard conditions, with Alex at the top of the mast, he and Mike were able to work together on making the rig safe without talking because they each knew what the other was thinking, he said. And they have emerged as great friends. "That is one of the most positive things to come out of it!"
Alex said that after coming home and taking a holiday, he is now ready to race again. "I have a new boat in build, Hugo Boss II, that will be ready in April and I am pleased to say I will be competing in the Barcelona double handed race. I'm now looking forward to the Barcelona World Race which begins in November and is set to be one of the most incredible offshore races ever. I will be very pleased to do it with someone else next time!"
Alex also revealed that a television programme has been made of his rescue by Mike in the Southern Ocean, which will be shown on More 4 on January 18. The one-off 60 minute documentary will be repeated on Channel 4.
"Make sure you watch it!" said Alex. "Mike and I are pretty good at the media side."
In addition to the footage already widely seen, of him stepping off Hugo Boss into the liferaft, and of him being welcomed aboard Ecover by Mike, he had actually managed to do some filming even in the liferaft, he said. "I am sure it will make pretty good watching."
Alex also announced that since George the Bear had looked after him so well, "He is going to come on all my other travels." For now Alex is a confirmed supporter of the RNLI. He signed up for Offshore membership before cutting the tenth birthday cake.
"My lifeboat was Ecover. In the future she might not be there," he said.
There are 40,000 Offshore members of the RNLI, but there are 450,000 registered boat owners in the UK, and he urged the 90 percent who have not yet done so to follow his example and sign up for Offshore membership.
"The more supporters there are, the more money there will be for more boats and more rescues," he said.
For more information visit www.at-racing.com
and www.rnli.org.uk.
