HAMPSHIRE sailor Alex Thomson has been forced to return to port after his yacht started taking on water.

The Gosport skipper was one of 30 who left Les Sables D'Olonne on Sunday in the 24,000-mile Vendée Globe race.

But after a tough first 36 hours of racing Thomson was forced to return to the French marina after discovering a crack in his yacht Hugo Boss's hull.

Thomson was 290 miles from the port when he made the call to go back at 7.45pm GMT last night.

It is the second setback for Thomson, who was hit by a French fishing boat as he arrived in Les Sables just two weeks before the race start.

Hugo Boss is the eighth yacht to return to the marina since the start of the race.