Shirley Robertson

This edition of Shirley Robertson’s Sailing Podcast captures one of offshore sailing’s most active campaigners, a sailor who’s career spans two decades at the highest level of the sport and includes a record equaling five Vendee Globe starts.

Alex Thomson, widely known for his Vendee campaigns sailing a series of iconic Hugo Boss IMOCA, has done much to raise awareness of offshore sailing and with his team, has been responsible for some of the most innovative developments the monohull IMOCA Class has ever seen.

While much of Thomson’s discussion in this two part podcast centers around his various Vendee Globe campaigns, there’s also much to cover about Thomson’s remarkable career path, time spent sailing with Sir Robin Knox Johnston, and the result of his time spent with British business tycoon Sir Keith Mills:

“We met at Shoreham airport, we flew to Brest, and he bought me a boat for 1.1 million Euros….That level of belief, in me, at that time, was difficult to comprehend really.”

Thomson is candid about his first campaign, as he is throughout the chat with Robertson, and reveals much about how, along with Sir Keith Mills, they brought Hugo Boss into what would go on to become one of the longest sponsorship partnerships in the sport.

Thomson has also had an eventful career that’s involved a series of very high profile sinkings and race retirements, not least when keel damage to the original Hugo Boss famously left him floundering deep in the South Atlantic. But the drama doesn’t end with keel damage.

Having discussed the cause of a very public falling out with fellow British offshore sailor Mike Golding, “…the next day in the Sunday Times, Mike called me a jumped up little prick!”, Thomson discusses how, with his keel dangling uselessly from the hull, the only chance of rescue was of course, with Mike Golding, who pulled off a daring rescue with catastrophic circumstances:

Alex Thomson

“I was on the boat for about three hours…the wind hit, the boat leaned over, and his mast just collapsed, Mike is standing in the cockpit with his mouth open, and I’m now feeling guilty…I said to Mike, ‘I am so sorry…’”

Thomson’s memories of the daring rescue, Golding’s unfaltering seamanship and the awkward incidents that followed is a first hand account of offshore folklore not to be missed. It’s a fascinating tale told by one of only two people that were actually there.

There is of course much chat between the pair of Thomson’s sailing adventures, but also of his series of daring stunts that have netted him over 10 million views on YouTube alone. The evolution of the idea, the execution of the stunts themselves and Thomson’s desire to bring new audiences to his offshore campaigns are all talked through in this revealing chat…

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Researchers have announced the discovery of the wreck of the schooner barge Ironton in Lake Huron, sitting upright with masts and rigging still intact and with the lifeboat that could have saved her crew still lashed to the ship’s stern. It was this mistake—failing to untie the painter in time—that led to five men’s deaths on September 26, 1894, as the ship sank so quickly it dragged the lifeboat down as it plunged hundreds of feet into the frigid water.

The Ironton is the latest discovery in the maritime archaeology treasure trove of NOAA’s 4,300-square-mile Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, whose cold, fresh water has made its hundreds of shipwrecks among the best preserved in the world. Taken as a whole, the schooners, steamboats, steel freighters, and other vessels that rest in the sanctuary represent a singular, otherworldly museum of maritime history.

The images of the Ironton are beautiful and haunting, and coupled with illustrations rendered with sonar imaging, they reveal a ship whose primary features—hull, three masts, rigging, bowsprit, and anchor still on deck—are so intact, she could be sitting pier side, ready to take on the 48,500 bushels of grain or 1,250 tons of coal she was built to carry.

“The discovery illustrates how we can use the past to create a better future,” said Jeff Gray, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary superintendent. “Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century, we are also learning more about one of our nation’s most important natural resources—the Great Lakes. This research will help protect Lake Huron and its rich history.”

On the night of September 26, 1894, Ironton and another schooner barge were in tow behind the steamer Charles J. Kershaw—a typical arrangement for these vessels—empty and en route to Marquette, Michigan, on Lake Superior. The Kershaw lost power, and as the wind pushed the schooners toward it, Kershaw cut them loose. The captain and crew of the Ironton struggled to quickly fire up her steam engine and set sails, but in the darkness, she drifted into the path of the Ohio, a 203-foot wooden freighter loaded with 1,000 tons of grain.

View the 10 images of this gallery on the original article

The collision proved fatal to both ships. As the Ohio sank more quickly, nearby ships helped rescue her 16 crew. Meanwhile, the Ironton drifted away from the rescuing vessels, and by the time she went down, she was alone. As the captain and crew raced to get into the lifeboat, they failed to untie the painter in time; all seven went under with the ship, and only two surfaced to survive the wreck and be rescued several hours later by a passing steamer.

Ironton’s precise location was a mystery for more than 120 years until researchers from the sanctuary, the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust used cutting-edge oceanographic technology to discover and document the shipwreck.

Initially, researchers had found the wreck of the Ohio in about 300 feet of water, after surveying 100 square miles of unmapped seafloor in the sanctuary in 2017.

Using the Ohio’s position and extrapolating weather information from the night of the sinking, sanctuary researchers in 2019 refined the search area. They partnered with Ocean Exploration Trust’s world-renowned oceanographers and latest technologies, including BEN (Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator), a 12-foot, diesel-powered, autonomous vessel carrying high-resolution multibeam sonar.

Working with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab’s RV Storm, a 50-foot research vessel equipped with multibeam sonar, they finally located what they believed to be the wreck. It took further months of research—teaming with the University of North Carolina’s Undersea Vehicle Program and using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed from the USCG cutter Mobile Bay—to positively identify it.

The delay in announcing the discovery publicly was due in part to Covid-19 field work restrictions during all of 2020 and some of 2021 that put much of the work on hold, says Stephanie Gandulla, the sanctuary’s resource protection coordinator. And, mounting expeditions to return to the wreck’s location and depth requires a great deal of time, planning, and coordination.

For more images, history, and information about the Ironton and Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, visit thunderbay.noaa.gov/

March 2023

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(March 3, 2023; Day 6) – All four boats racing the Ocean Race on Leg 3 to Itajai are finally making speed as the wind returns to Roaring 40s. It is still a far cry from traditional Roaring 40s weather, but at least one critical element has returned – the wind.

Biotherm, 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia are all finally on the move after a frustrating period of unusually light, warm, and calm conditions.

While the unusual weather suited Team Malizia as they worked through the day and into the night on Wednesday to repair their damaged mast, it was received far less well by the sailors on Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team who could only watch as Leg leading Team Holcim – PRB raced away from them, one full weather system ahead…

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(March 1, 2023; Day 4) – Holcim – PRB leads fleet east while two teams have suffered setbacks over the past 24 hours in The Ocean Race, with GUYOT environnement electing to return to Cape Town while Team Malizia is down a sail. The fleet is pushing east at pace, trying to hold on to the strong winds of a southern latitude low pressure system.

Team Holcim – PRB is making the best of it, but the news of the day centres around GUYOT environnement – Team Europe who have elected to turn back towards Cape Town after suffering what the team and its technicians are calling a ‘hull sandwich failure’ – essentially a structural problem with the boat.

“I was just coming off watch and I was just about to get into my bed and I could see on the opposite side of the boat there was a pelican case tied to the floor and it was moving,” said Annie Lush. “I didn’t think I’d seen it move like that before and when I went to check I could hear the noise of delamination. We could hear it and see it moving up and down. We spoke to the architects and there is no way we can fix this out here, so we have to return to Cape Town.”

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Holcim-PRB shows some serious get-up-and-go at the start of Leg 3 of the Ocean Race, an easy 13,000 miles or so to Brazil. Track em. Photo © Marin Le Roux | PolaRYSE | Holcim-PRB…

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