Alex Thomson Racing Unveils Latest Stunt

British round-the-world sailor, Alex Thomson, has unveiled his latest stunt, The Skywalk, carried out by Alex Thomson Racing, in partnership with sponsors HUGO BOSS and Mercedes-Benz.

The stunt involves Thomson, on a kiteboard, chasing his IMOCA open 60 HUGO BOSS boat upwind and attaching himself via a rope to the top of the boat’s mast. He then utilises the speed of the race boat to propel himself 280ft into the air, sending him surfing above the yacht.

When Thomson reaches the peak of his flight, he detaches himself from the boat and controls his descent back down, landing the kiteboard on the water, all whilst wearing a HUGO BOSS suit. Watch there video here. 

In total, 35 people were involved in the planning, co-ordination and execution of the stunt, including Alex Thomson Racing operations manager Ross Daniel, professional kite-surfer Susi Mai and kite-surfing coach Ray Kasper.

This is the third stunt to be unveiled by the 41-year-old yachtsman and his team. The previous stunts were The Keelwalk and The Mastwalk, which won Best Use of PR at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2015.

Thomson commented: “I’ve always had a love for all things wind-powered so naturally a stunt which involved kite surfing was the next step. The idea of combining two of my favourite sports and executing something which, to our knowledge, had never been done before was really exciting.

“The team and I have been planning the stunt for a long time. There were lots of things that could have gone wrong. Perhaps most concerning for the team; was the prospect of an uncontrolled descent, causing me to come back down too fast. Water can be as hard as concrete if hit with enough velocity, so this was one of the most dangerous aspects of the stunt. But I had a brilliant team around me and, with their help; we managed to pull it off. What’s next? Who knows?”