Gitana 13 to attack the North Pacific crossing
The maxi-catamaran's 2008 record campaign in the colours of the LCF Rothschild group continues… Just weeks after its victorious finish in San Francisco, where it racked up a new reference time from the Route de l'Or (New York – San Francisco via Cape Horn) in 43 days 3 minutes and 18 seconds (a time approved by the WSSRC), the crew of Gitana 13 will take to the seas again. Lionel Lemonchois and his men will be attacking the North Pacific crossing record between San Francisco and Yokohama; a record which today belongs to French sailor Olivier de Kersauson and his crew aboard a 34 metre trimaran Geronimo. The crew of Gitana 13 will have to better the reference time of 14 days 22 hours 40 minutes and 41 seconds to be able to add a new record to their conquests.

Lionel Lemonchois, skipper of the maxi-catamaran Gitana 13, shares his view of the course with us: “At first glance, you might well believe that the North Pacific crossing is a rather nice little stroll through the tradewinds, but when you look at it in more depth things are actually a bit more complicated. In reality it is a winding, complex course, which is likely to prove fairly demanding for the men and the machine alike. However, as always, this is what makes the challenge more appealing! The time to beat being fourteen days and a few hours, it may be considered to be a short record, compared with the Route de l'Or, which lasted over 43 days (laughs). On this second record of the season, there won't be any appointed onboard navigator (a position which Dominic Vittet occupied between New York and San Francisco). Instead I'll be concentrating more on this part, with the same precious help from Sylvain Mondon on shore. We will be welcoming Kojiro Shiraishi, a Japanese sailor aboard, as this mix of cultures is something Gitana Team wished for when it committed itself to this rather atypical Round the World.”

Given the latest weather information from Sylvain Mondon (Météo France), Gitana 13 may well set off to tackle this new record at the end of the week: “We were aiming for a gap around 27th, 28th March but the window seems to have shifted slightly and today we're focusing more on a departure between 29th and 31st March. The situation which the various weather files are presenting will enable the crew of Gitana 13 to gain westing for 3 to 4 days to hunt down the tradewinds. It's an attractive configuration in terms of gaining ground along the route.”

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