A mixture of the cash and camaraderie has allowed Alex Thomson to contemplate making the startline of the Vendée Globe on November 9. Thomson's new £2 million rocket ship, Hugo Boss, was hit by a French fishing vessel last Friday but the mast can be repaired, a team of around 25 will work 24 hours a day on the two-by-five metre hole in the hull and a French rival, Yann Elies, has given Thomson his hull mould.

Thomson is also grateful to Lisa Radineau from Alliaura Marine at Les Sables d'Olonnes, the starting point of the Vendée, for the yard space. But such is the emergency of the situation that the yard did not have insurance for people to be working 24 hours and Thomson has had to wait to start repairs.

Thomson is perhaps the only one in the powerful field who has the resources to take on such a big job with less than three weeks to the start of the 24,000-mile non-stop round-the-world race that is the toughest in sailing. Keith Mills, the chairman of Alex Thomson Racing as well as the owner of Team Origin, Britain's America's Cup team, has sent over some key members of Origin staff.

Mike Sanderson, the Team Origin director, arrived on Monday to assess the feasibility of the repairs. He left on Tuesday for New York, to join Ben Ainslie and Richard Branson for a Virgin Atlantic Transatlantic record attempt. David Duff, Origin's shore operations director, will run the repairs outfit.

Hugo Boss was struck just forward of the mast bulkhead on its starboard side at 2.30am, two miles off the coast of Les Sables d'Olonne as she waited for the lock gates to open. The skipper of the 60ft French fishing boat said he did not see Hugo Boss. The collision is being investigated by the Affaires Maritimes.

Thomson, 34, has a reputation as a boatbreaker as he has never successfully been around the world on his own and lost the first Hugo Boss south of Cape Town. But that has more to do with the way he pushes his boats in racing. Whether this was just a case of bad luck may be revealed in the weeks to come. “The Affaires Maritimes is dealing with the inquiry and that is all I can say about this,” he said. “For us the priority is to concentrate to get to the startline.”

All that was left of the 72ft mast, which was fixed for strength as opposed to the new rotation designs, was 15ft above the deck. Hugo Boss has no spare. Southern Spars, the maker, said it can repair it. “The only solution is to repair it by sticking an insert into the mast and replace the broken section,” Thomson said. “We expect the difference in weight to be negligible. And it will be stronger. We have taken the decision to repair the boat and will try our hardest to be ready for the start on November 9. This is a massive task.”

Both forward keel bulkheads are damaged, but if the impact had been two metres either side, Thomson said the boat would have been cut in half. He will be relying on others to assess whether the boat will get him around the world. “I don't know an awful lot about the very technical side of these things but I'm more than happy to go along with them.”