By his own admission, Brian Thompson doesn’t know how many offshore and ocean world records he’s broken. His website suggests 25, but podcaster Shirley Robertson, one of the few journalists to interview this compulsive circumnavigator at length, discovered the number exceeds 40. He still has 6 current records in the books, undoubtedly with more to come!
Admin might not be Brian’s strong suit, but put him on the helm of any monohull or multihull, and his brilliance stands out at getting the very best performance out of the boat. The faster it is, the better he is at doing this hour after hour.
The first British sailor with four non-stop circumnavigations to his credit, Brian set his earliest record aboard American serial adventurer Steve Fosset’s giant catamaran Cheyenne/Playstation, setting a 58-day non-stop circumnavigation record in 2004 with Mark Featherstone. A year later, Brian had command of his own winning catamaran, Doha 2006 (ex-Club Med), in the Oryx Quest round-the-world race with fellow Cape Horn Hall of Fame inductee Thomas Coville aboard.
In 2006, he joined the star-studded Volvo Ocean Race yacht ABN AMRO I, skippered by Mike Sanderson, as stand-in helm for a southern ocean leg that proved pivotal to the team’s overall race win.
Another circumnavigation followed in 2008/9, this time singlehanded when he finished 5th in the Vendée Globe aboard the IMOCA 60 Bahrain Team Pindar.
Four years later, Brian joined Loïck Peyron aboard the maxi-multihull Banque Populaire 5 to win the Jules Verne Trophy, in a time of 45 days.
In 2017 Brian was navigator on Turn the Tide on Plastics skippered by Dee Caffari, and rounded the Horn for a 5th time.
Career highlights
2004: with Steve Fosset with whom he set several records, including a new world sailing record in 2004 aboard the multihull Cheyenne/Playstation
2005: won the Oryx Quest, skippering the round the world crewed race, in Doha 2006, (ex-Club Med)
2006: Crew member aboard ABN AMRO 1 skippered by Mike Sanderson for Cape Town/Melbourne leg of the 2006/7 Volvo Ocean Race.
2008/9 : finished 5th in the Vendée Globe on a 60 feet IMOCA class yacht Bahrain Team Pindar.
2012: won the Jules Verne Trophy as helmsman and trimmer for Loïck Peyron, on the maxi-multihull Banque Populaire to became the first British sailor with four non-stop laps of the world
2018: Rounded Horn with Dee Caffari on Turn the Tide on Plastic, during the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race.
Web Links
https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2024/01/25/sitting-down-with-brian-thompson/
