British Vendée Globe skipper Alex Thomson on HUGO BOSS is heading to Cape Town, South Africa after damage to the starboard rudder of his HUGO BOSS on Friday evening. He will abandon the solo non stop round the world race that he started on Sunday 8th November as one of the favourites to win.

After spending long periods over the last five days and nights, between Sunday and Thursday, repairing cracks to the internal bow structure of his boat the rudder damage was suffered just as Thomson was getting into his stride at the gateway to the Roaring Forties where his latest generation IMOCA was designed to be at its best.

Last night after the rudder damage, he slowed to 10-11 knots and was in 15th place 752 nautical miles behind leader Charlie Dalin. This afternoon he is approximately 1600 nautical miles to Cape Town.

A short team statement said, “ Thomson last night disconnected the starboard rudder and has since been sailing the yacht with just one rudder. After assessing the situation today, the skipper and his team have decided that the only course of action is to cease racing and sail the boat to Cape Town.”

Alec Thomson said, “Unfortunately, a repair is not possible. We therefore accept that this will be the end of the race for us. Myself, my team and our partners are of course deeply disappointed. We believe the best was yet to come in this race”.