Gala launch for Hugo Boss [updated]

Model/actress Diane Kruger launches Alex Thomson's third IMOCA 60

Hugo Boss are known for throwing a fine party and last night's launch of their new IMOCA 60 in London's Canary Wharf was no exception.

Last year Hugo Boss acquired the Juan K-designed former Pindar boat which Brian Thompson campaigned in the 2008-9 Vendee Globe and have been reworking it over the winter at Green Marine. This has resulted in dramatic consequences to the deck which is now flush all the way back to a large deck pods just forward of the transom.

The christening ceremony held in London's Docklands was presided over by Formula 1 racing driver David Coulthard and christened by German-American actress Diane Kruger, star of films such as Troy ('the face that launched a thousand ships, etc') and last year's Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. With the backdrop of a giant Hugo Boss logo projected onto the building opposite, Coulthard provided great entertainment by going off-piste with the questioning, asking Thomson about what he did 'for relief' while he was on his own for three months at sea.

The boat is due to leave London shortly for a summer of corporate hospitality, racing events, and Hugo Boss parties, hitting hot spots such as The Hamptons, Sardinia and Ibiza, before heading back to base for the build up to the Barcelona World Race.

Full interview with Alex Thomson follows...

Photos below by Richard Young/REX