Client Spotlight: Alex Thomson Racing

Throughout his decorated career to date, British skipper Alex Thomson has broken multiple records, achieved countless accolades and continued to cement his reputation as one of the world’s most talented offshore sailors.

Alex is the youngest skipper ever to win a round-the-world yacht race. He also holds the British solo, unassisted round-the-world monohull record, which he set in 2017 when he finished the gruelling Vendee Globe race in just 74 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes.

Leyton UK and ATR share a passion for sustainability and ocean conservation. Read more about some of ATR’s innovative R&D projects which are helping them increase their chances of winning more races.

Continuing success thanks to new bespoke technologies

ATR’s sailing campaigns run in four-year cycles, culminating in the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race – the ‘Everest’ of sailing – which takes place every four years. Each four-year cycle brings with it cutting-edge technologies. which have the potential to significantly improve performance.

One recent R&D project has been centred around foils. Building foils into the boat had not been used previously in serious long distance racing and have been a major development for ATR, with each set built costing a huge amount. The foils are constantly refined and improved and the team researches into materials like fibre options help make the next set better. 

Self-steering has also been a significant research and development project for the team. The self-steering capability the team has developed, and integrated within their IMOCA 60 racing yacht, is able to use intelligent AI and precision feedback control mechanisms to understand what type of waves are approaching the boat and react pre-emptively to them, making adjustments before the wave hits the boat. 

Other important work has included sleep management research and hull shape and branding.  

Before working with Leyton, ATR’s tech teams tended to view R&D Tax Credits as a job for an FD. By spending time with our technical consultants to discuss their R&D projects and technical developments in details however, ATR’S team has seen the clear benefits of this time investment by being able to uncover more qualifying activity and subsequently receive higher amounts of R&D Tax Credits to fund future projects.

Find out more about the innovative projects of Leyton’s clients in our case studies library.