At approximately 19:00 UTC on Saturday 21 November, Alex Thomson notified his team on shore of a possible structural issue onboard the HUGO BOSS boat.
At the time, Thomson was located approximately 800 miles east of Rio de Janeiro in the South Atlantic ocean.
The British skipper has reduced speed to lessen the loading on the boat while a solution was being sought in consultation with the designers VPLP and engineers.
At 11:00 hrs Sunday morning Thomson was in third place behind race leader Thomas Ruyant and second placed Charlie Dalin, and sailing at just 2.27 knots.
Thomson and his team, together with their appointed naval architects and structural engineers, are now working together to assess the extent of the structural issue and to determine a repair programme and timeline.
Thomson is safe and well onboard, and in regular dialogue with the team.
The leading trio are racing in light, variable winds. Just before the alert was made to Race Direction, Thomson had been averaging around 16kts, the forecast swell being around 1.7m.
As the leaders slow down in these light conditions so there has been a small gain by the chasing group, Ruyant and Dalin making around 12kts to fourth placed Jean Le Cam’s overnight average of 14kts, the gap reducing by some 25 miles to 259 this morning.
Vendée Globe Leaders – Day 15 – Sun 22 Nov – Updated 11:00 hrs UK
1st FRA Thomas Ruyant – LinkedOut – 19,729 nm to finish
2nd FRA Charlie Dalin – APIVIA – 11 nm
3rd GBR Alex Thomson – HUGO BOSS – 120 nm – sailing at 3 knots
4th FRA Jean Le Cam – Yes we Cam! – 258 nm
5th FRA Kevin Escoffier – PRB – 285 nm
6th FRA Boris Herrmann – SEAEXPLORER – 329 nm
7th FRA Yannick Bestaven – Maître CoQ IV – 336 nm
8th FRA Louis Burton – BUREAU VALLEE 2 – 358 nm
9th FRA Sebastien Simon – ARKEA PAPREC – 362 nm
10th GBR Sam Davies – INITIATIVES-COEUR – 395 nm
11th FRA Benjamin Dutreux – OMIA – Water Family – 608 nm
Other GBR:
22nd GBR Pip Hare – Medallia – 1763 nm
26th GBR Miranda Merron – Campagne de France – 2077 nm
Retired: Nicolas Troussel