Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild – First spectacular images

by Gitana on 2 Sep 2015 The Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild was launched on the seventh of August in Vannes, after an eleven-month build was completed at the Multiplast yard. She was put on water just ten days later, offshore of the teams base in Lorient.

On Monday 24th August, due to high winds off the north- west tip of Brittany, Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier (his co-skipper for the Transat Jacques Vabre) opted to take the boat for a trial sail in blustery conditions. It proved to be a rather bracing sail which photographer Thierry Martinez and cameraman Christophe Castagne captured in full for the Gitana Team.

It has been a very active summer for the Gitana Team! Indeed, the whole of the team fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild has been working flat out in order to complete the build. The 7th August saw the successful launch of this latest addition to the Gitana saga: the Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild. Delivered from Vannes to nearby Lorient immediately afterwards, the latest generation 60-footer went on to have her keel and mast stepped before undergoing a series of tests to check her compliance with the IMOCA class measurement. On 17th of August, Sébastien Josse and his men were finally able to cast off and get a first taste of helming this new monohull.

At the start of last week, on Monday 24th August, the weather reports announced that a particularly strong and deep low wind was set to roll across Brittany, producing 28 to 35 knots of north-westerly breeze, accompanied by a 2.5 to three-metre swell! Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier saw it as the perfect opportunity to evaluate the Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild’s performance in blustery conditions.

“It was really interesting to get a chance to sail in these boisterous conditions on what was only our third outing! Our current phase is all about discovering and breaking-in the boat. Even though this type of sailing shows us positive signs as to how the boat handles, these outings are just sprints for now as they are much too short to draw any real conclusions from them. We'll have to wait until the Transat Jacques Vabre finishes for that. The very demanding 5,400-mile course (nearly a quarter of a round the world circuit) offered up by this double-handed transatlantic race serves as a fantastic trial run” explained the skipper of Edmond De Rothschild.

With just under two months until the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, which begins on the 25th October from Le Havre, the pace is picking up. Indeed, to stand a chance of being ready to set sail for Brazil, the Edmond de Rothschild duo has a very tight schedule to stick to. In this way, the training sessions will intensify, notably including a 1,000 nautical mile qualifier aboard the new boat, and every opportunity for time on the water will be employed to the full as Sébastien Josse stresses: “The Transat Jacques Vabre is tomorrow! As a result there's no time for deliberation. If we get a chance to go sailing, we're going”.

Technical characteristics

LOA: 20.1m
Waterline length: 18.28m
Beam: 5.70m
Air draught: 29m
Water draught: 4.50m
Displacement (weight): 7.6 tonnes
Weight of keel bulb: three tonnes
Maximum upwind and downwind sail area: 290m2 / 490m2
M2 of living space: 10m2
Number and type of daggerboards: two foils
Source of energy production on-board: generators coupled to the diesel engine + hydrogenerators
Naval architects: Verdier / VPLP
Yard: Multiplast (Vannes)
Rudders: C3 Technologies
Daggerboards: Heol Composites
Keel: AMPM (La Mothe-Achard)
Mast: Lorima (Lorient)
Start of construction: September 2014
Launch: 7 August 2015