They'll be joining the 11 members of the Gitana Team who have been there since the delivery voyage on 25th June for Gitana 11 (from Boston) and in the small hours of 29th June for Gitana X (from La Trinité sur Mer – France).

By the end of today, Monday 5th July, almost all of the Gitana Team² will be in situ to put the finishing touches to the boats before the 60-foot multihull fleet sets out on the “return” race to Europe, after crossing from east to west on The Transat at the beginning of June. In order to adhere to the strict work schedule set by Jean, the Team's Technical Manager, Zolive, Thierry, Laurent, Léo, William, Jean Pierre, Bambino, Nicolas, Laurent and Erwan, have been concentrating on their specialist mission for the past ten days or so. Weather has been changeable – typical of the continental climate Québec province climate - with strong rains storms one day, followed by brilliant sunshine the next.

Gitana 11 broke her dagger board a few days before her Boston finish. This has now been finished and put back in her casing. The platforms and particularly the masts have been inspected in great detail, deck gear dismounted, rinsed and reassembled and the crew configuration put in place for the sails. Scratches on the leading edges of the foils have been smoothed down, the electronics checked over and the computers reset for the return race.

In the last few days before the start will be spent ironing out any last technical details, loading up provisions and crew's personal belongings, attending the various briefing sessions and official ceremonies programmed by the race organisers, but also fitting in the odd bit of fun here and there. The people of Québec have given a warm welcome in keeping with the beauty of the site.

Gitana Sailing Team for the Québec – Saint Malo :

One of the Gitana X crew, winner of the Mini Cup and the Mini Fastnet 2004 :

Erwan Le Roux who crews with Marc Guillemot on Gitana X for the Grand Prix and the Québec – Saint Malo won the Mini Cup, a single-handed race from Dieppe to Douarnenez. Just a few days later he went on to race to victory in the Mini Fasnet on 19th June with François Lamiot. First across the line in Douarnenez, the pair won the 19th edition of this legendary race in what was an extremely top level line-up. The course starts out in Finistere and is raced round the Fastnet lighthouse. For 6 days, the 84 competitors never let up an instant in a closely fought battle, demonstrated by the 8-minute gap which Erwan and François put between them and the boat which came in second after a 650-mile long race. At the finishing line Erwan stated : It was a tough race which proved once again that you never know what is going to happen and that you have to keep hard at it right through to the end. »