Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks and former Formula One champion Nico Rosberg joined sailing star Alex Thomson at the launch of his new boat ahead of his gruelling Vendée Globe campaign next year.
The £6million HUGO BOSS yacht was launched on Thursday evening at its official christening ceremony on the River Thames.
Thomson, 45, is aiming to become the first Briton to win the solo, non-stop, round-the-world Vendée Globe in 2020, finishing second behind France’s Armel Le Clea’h in 2017.
“The new HUGO BOSS is the culmination of the last 16 years of this team’s work.” said skipper Thomson. “We’ve brought together the very best people - across every area of the project - to create a boat which is ground-breaking in so many ways, a boat which we very much hope will allow us to achieve our ambition of winning the Vendée Globe.”
A number of sports stars were on show at the ceremony, including Winks, Rosberg, 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson and Formula E racer Andre Lotterer.
The yacht will race for the very first time on 27th October when Thomson competes in the Transat Jacques Vabre race from France to Brazil
Next year’s Vendee Globe starts on Sunday 8 November 2020 in Les Sables-d'Olonne in western France.
