Gitana : écurie de course au large fondée par le Baron Benjamin de Rothschild

Wednesday 30 October 2002

Gitana X in Saint-Malo !

After having left La Trinité-sur-Mer (on the Atlantic coast) on Monday 28th October at 19h00 French time, Gitana X arrived in Saint-Malo on 29th October after a 16 hour passage covering some 230 miles (463 km). The delivery was sailed in ideal conditions. Once through the lock of the former privateer town, the trimaran berthed under the ramparts of the old town.

Together with his crew of 6 and the Gitana Team shore crew who drove to Saint Malo, Lionel Lemonchois moored Gitana X alongside the pontoons which have been installed specially for the occasion. In a relaxed mood, the skipper remarked on the rather cool temperature : "It was not that warm last night. We had a fair bit of wind, sometimes as much as 35 knots. But the last 3 hours in particular we were head to wind, although we did have some sun. Everything is fine. The boat is in tiptop condition. There are just one or two small details to sort out. I'll be going back home for the next 5 days, to finish my physical preparation at the Thalasso in Carnac and to spend a little time with my family".

Check list

Whilst Lionel has left the boat for a while, the Gitana Team has been set to work and is busy working on the trimaran. Under the aegis of Yann Marilley, Team Manager, Olivier Staub and Hughes de Turckeim have dismounted the rudders (helming system) on the floats – something they had planned on doing for a long time – for a last check-up. François Denis and Patrick Jullien have started to give the boat a thorough rinsing and have installed the protective covers and canvasses. Olivier Wroczynski and Richard Bastide are concentratingtheir attention on the boat's electronics and computers, then on the statement of information recorded by the load cells. You will recall that these sensors were fitted this summer by Multiplast, in order to be informed about the loads the boat's structure is having to bear.As for Jean-Yves le Govic, he was further away on the north coast in Le Havre, taking care of the loading of the support boat onto a cargo vessel ready to assist Gitana X in Pointe-à-Pitre.

Osmosis

One of the challenges raised – and met - by the Gitana Team was that Gitana X would arrive in Saint-Malo ship-shape and Bristol fashion, as sailors like to say. A clean well prepared boat and a crew on the right wavelength. So the Gitana Team is serene in the remaining 12 days run up to the start, attentive to the final details which will enable Lionel Lemonchois to be even more serene.

Delivery crew

Lionel Lemonchois (Skipper)
Patrick Jullien (Shore crew)
Olivier Wroczynski (Boat Master)
François Denis (Rigging)
Hughes de Turcheim (Appendages)
Richard Bastide (Electronics and Computers)
Olivier Mainguy (Rigging supplier)