Sail-World.com : Gitana Teams prepare for different challenges
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Gitana Teams prepare for different challenges |
Whilst Gitana Eighty is preparing to contest the celebrated Grand Prix Petit Navire in Douarnenez, Gitana 13, boosted by her first two records in the colours of LCF Rothschild Group, is making preparations in Yokohama for a month and a half long tour of Asia.
Crewed races prior to solo configuration for Loïck Peyron and Gitana Eighty.
15 days before the start of the legendary single-handed transatlantic race between Plymouth and Boston, eight of the North Atlantic pretenders are meeting up in Douarnenez (Finistère, NE France). For five days, 60 foot monohulls, class 40s and Minis will be rubbing shoulders in Douarnenez Bay, for what will be the start of festivities for this 9th edition of the Grand Prix Petit Navire.
Loïck Peyron and his shore crew have been forced to delay their arrival in Douarnenez by 24 hours following a mast swap performed by the Gitana Team at the start of the week. Equipped with a new spar on Monday morning, the 60 footer and its skipper are currently at sea performing a 300 mile qualifier, which is compulsory for validating the new rig.
Expected in the Rosmeur port on Saturday morning, this latest addition to the Gitana fleet will immediately take part in a day of speed runs organised in the bay. Following this the skipper of Gitana Eighty will do battle in some coastal courses with a crewed configuration for the next three days. This introduction into the 60 footer’s 2008 racing season will enable the sailor from La Baule on France's Atlantic coast to go over the basics again and measure his steed one last time prior to the start of The Transat, scheduled for 11th May 2008 in Plymouth: 'These runs and races are an excellent opportunity to come and measure yourself against the future competition, particularly in terms of speed. And, although the crewed and solo exercises are very different, these few days of contact racing are always good practice for what’s to come. I retain some excellent memories of the runs aboard Gitana 11 last year, as the Douarnenez race zone, for the short amount of time that the wind played ball, perfectly lends itself to that. We racked up the best performance in the runs with an average of 31.86 knots'.
No downtime then for Loïck Peyron and the Gitana Team, as of Wednesday morning, Gitana Eighty will cast off from Brittany, bound for Sutton Harbour, at the foot of Plymouth's Barbican area on England's south-west coast; a channel crossing of over 150 miles which promises to serve up some lively but fast conditions.
Gitana 13’s Asian tour
In a few days time, Lionel Lemonchois and his men will bid farewell to Japan to continue with their 2008 record campaign. The next stopover for the maxi-catamaran equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild is the town of Dalian, 1,432 miles away in China.
Sylvain Mondon (Météo France) details the weather scenario required to set off on this latest record attempt: 'To leave Tokyo Bay in optimum conditions, we're after E to SE’ly winds, which could be generated by a low climbing up from the S or SW in a similar fashion to the low encountered by Gitana 13 during its arrival in Japan. The goal is essentially to set off on this course with some sufficiently regular downwind conditions, ideally in excess of 25 knots. If these conditions come together, Gitana 13 may be able to minimise the number of manœuvres and thus make Dalian in three or four days.'
In 2006, the English sailor, Ellen MacArthur, raced a similar circuit to that of Gitana 13. Over certain destinations, Lionel Lemonchois and his crew will be able to attack the time set by the skipper of B&Q (a 22.9 metre trimaran).
Gitana 13’s Asian stopovers: Dalian, Qingdao (China), Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Macao (administrative regions with a special status in China).
Gitana 13's records
North Pacific Crossing (San Francisco – Yokohama):
Record broken: 11 days 12 minutes 55 seconds, improving on the reference time set by Olivier de Kersauson and his crew (Geronimo) by over 3 days.
Record held since 9th April 2008.
Route de l’Or (New York – San Francisco, via Cape Horn):
Record broken: 43 days 3 minutes 18 seconds (time approved by the WSSRC), improving on the reference time set by Yves Parlier by over 14 days.
Record held since 28th February 2008.
www.gitana-team.com
by Kate Jennings translation
7:43 PM Fri 25 Apr 2008 GMT
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