Alex Thomson was helped early in his sailing career by Sir Keith Mills, the British businessman who ran London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and set up with British America's Cup campaign TEAMORIGIN.

Sponsored by Hugo Boss he took part in the Vendée Globe 2004/05 but was forced to retire after damage to the carbon fitting that attached the boom to the deck.

However, 13 days into the race Hugo Boss's starboard foil broke after hitting an unidentified floating object,[6] therefore hampering Alex's progress throughout the rest of the course.

Of note, most of the race takes place on port tack, that is, the boat would have made good use of the missing starboard foil.

[7] Despite his foil and anemometer/autopilot problems, Thomson finished the race with the second fastest time on record – 74 days 19 h 35 min 15 sec, 16h behind Armel Le Cléac'h.