Alex Thomson's hopes of making the start line for the Vendée Globe single-handed round-the-world race next month have received a cruel setback after his yacht, Hugo Boss, was struck in the early hours this morning by a French fishing vessel and sustained substantial damage.

Hugo Boss was stationary about two miles off the coast of Les Sables d'Olonne, the port on the west of France that marks the start and finish of the 24,000-mile race, when the collision happened at 2.30am. It had only recently arrived in France from its home port of Gosport, Hampshire.

The captain of the 60ft fishing vessel is believed to have said that he did not see Thomson's yacht, although the British sailor's shore team maintained that Hugo Boss's navigation lights, trim lights and a strobe light were on and that its radar was activated and working.

The fishing vessel struck Hugo Boss on the starboard side, holing its hull and bringing the mast down. The mast and sails were cut away from the boat, which motored into port for the damage to be assessed. A statement will be made later this afternoon.

Thomson, 34, was on board his boat at the time of the accident, along with two of his crew. No one was injured. His agent said this morning: “Alex is trying to be as positive as possible. The hole can be fixed but the problem is that there is no spare mast, so he will have to find one.”

Hugo Boss cost about €2.5 million to build and a new mast would cost in the region of 600,000.

Thomson made his mark in sailing at a young age, becoming the youngest skipper to win a round-the-world yacht race when he triumphed in the 1998-99 Clipper Race. He then won the 2000 Round Britain & Ireland Race in a record time of ten days, which still stands.

Last year, sailing with Andrew Cape, Thomson came second on Hugo Boss in the Barcelona World Race, setting a speed record for 60ft monohull boats of 501.3 miles in 24 hours with an average speed of 20.9 knots.

However, he has had his fair share of catastrophe to go with the success. In 2004, he had to retire from the Vendée Globe when his previous boat sustained severe damage to the boom during a 36-hour storm in the Southern Ocean.

Two years later, Thomson's boat suffered keel failure in the same ocean during the Velux 5 Oceans Race and had to be abandoned, with Thomson rescued by Mike Golding, his British rival. Six hours after Golding had rescued Thomson, his own boat suffered two fractures of the mast, forcing him to head for port.

Last summer, Huge Boss had a collision with another yacht in the Solent shortly before the start of the Round the Island Race. Louis Hamilton, the Formula One driver, was on board when Thomson's yacht, which sustained £30,000 of damage, was hit by another vessel.