| British Solo Sailors Finally Reach Cape Town Aboard ECOVER |
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 One week after their dramatic ordeal in the Southern Ocean, British solo skippers, Alex Thomson (GBR) and Mike Golding (GBR), finally arrived into Cape Town (South Africa). ECOVER docked around 19.00 GMT on 1 December with two very exhausted, very relieved sailors onboard. The start of the VELUX 5 Oceans yacht race in Spain and the horrific storms of the first night, 41 days ago, now seem but a distant memory. It is time for Golding make a decision about ECOVER’s future in the VELUX 5 Oceans, whilst Thomson must come to terms with all that has happened and start to rebuild his life.Nine days have now passed since Thomson, 32, suffered severe keel failure whilst in a close third place in the VELUX 5 Oceans. Forced to make the crushing decision to abandon his beloved HUGO BOSS, he took to a life raft and was rescued heroically by fellow sailor Mike Golding, who subsequently suffered a broken mast. Thrown into a very unusual situation together, the two solo sailors have undoubtedly formed a special bond. Having battled 1000 nautical miles to South Africa under vastly reduced sail, they could not have been happier to set foot on dry land. “Mike has been absolutely brilliant and I am hugely grateful to him for everything he has done,” said Thomson on arrival in Cape Town. “We were both looking forward to a few beers last night and it was great to sink my teeth into a cheeseburger after six weeks of freeze-dried food. It has been a long week with an awful lot to take in and I am looking forward to starting a normal life again. I need to come to terms with the fact that life is not what it was. There is a lot to sort out when I come home and I need to switch my focus to my future.” The two skippers were enjoying some of the most extraordinary and exhilarating sailing of the race when disaster struck and neither has been put off by last week’s events. A very pragmatic Golding commented: “It hasn’t worked out the way we planned it, but all of that is put into perspective. HUGO BOSS is gone and Alex is not. To some extent maybe that is the reason I was here. If that is the only reason I was in this race then that is good enough for me. I am very proud of what I did. Do I feel like a hero? No, Alex would have done the same for me. I know that with single-handed sailors, or indeed sailors – anyone who puts to sea – there is a mutual bond.” “There will be a different relationship between us now. There is no onus on him or me for that to be so. Very early on I said to Alex: ‘You are not a passenger and you are not crew. Do what you feel comfortable with. Treat everything on board as if it were your own.” With regard to Thomson’s huge loss, Golding said: “He is very disappointed to lose HUGO BOSS, much more than I think he is freely prepared to admit. To damage a boat badly is hard for a skipper, but to lose one is devastating. It is like losing a member of the family.” Thomson and Golding will fly back to the UK together, where Thomson must put the VELUX 5 Oceans behind him and look to his future. His ultimate dream still stands; to be the first British sailor to win the Vendée Globe in 2008. He has a new yacht currently under construction, aboard which he will compete in the double-handed Barcelona World Race next year in the lead up to the Vendée Globe. Related Items:
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