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.”