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

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Starting out in Kiel

After a short summer break for all the members of Gitana Team, it’s time to get back to work. Sébastien Josse and the crew of the MOD 70 Edmond de Rothschild Group are putting the finishing touches to their game plan in readiness for the European Tour, a race comprising five legs, which will combine offshore races and city races. The fleet of one-design trimarans will set off from Kiel (Germany) this Sunday 2 September. Between now and then, the latest addition to the Gitana saga will have a chance to weigh up the competition, which it will vie with during the five weeks of competition. Hostilities will commence with the Kiel City Races, which involve two days of racing across the Baltic Sea prior to the lure of the open ocean and the northern latitudes.

After leaving her base in Lorient last Sunday, the trimaran fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild made Kiel some 48 hours later. She was the third MOD 70 to come and tie up in Baltic waters. Sébastien Josse and his five crew enjoyed perfect weather conditions – 15-20 knots of downwind sailing on flat seas – to cover the 800 nautical miles, which separate the two port cities. This express delivery, which the skipper was keen to view as a good way to set things in motion again after a month and a half’s break, rounded off with a trip along the Kiel Canal. It was a special moment for the six sailors. Indeed this river passage spanning some 98 kilometres links the North Sea and the Baltic Sea and witnesses an abundance of cargo ships and other commercial vessels, but seldom racing yachts like the Edmond de Rothschild Group’s trimaran: “We made it into the Kiel Canal under the cover of darkness. Its navigation is regulated and you have to be under power but this passage considerably reduced the distance to travel to Kiel. It’s not everyday that we sail along rivers on a multihull so it was pretty incredible”, explained Sébastien Josse on his arrival dockside.

The second event of the Multi One Championship after the Krys Ocean Race, the European Tour will take the five competing crews from Kiel to Dun Laoghaire (Dublin), then Cascais (Portugal) and Marseille (France), not to mention Genoa (Italy), where the final results will be decided on 2 October and hence the name of the winner of this first edition. In total there are over 5,000 nautical miles to cover in five weeks! In addition to the so-called offshore races between the host cities and contested in crews of six per boat, the MOD 70s will do battle in races around the bay referred to as City Races, where the number of sailors will be fleshed out to eight. The adventure promises to be both intense and varied in terms of the weather conditions, which is sure to please Sébastien Josse and his men, who are delighted at the prospect of heading back out to sea and linking up with their adversaries again.

From tomorrow, the crew of Edmond de Rothschild Group will be getting in some practice on the German race zone as a dress rehearsal for the two days of competition that make up the Kiel City Races, which will be run on Friday and Saturday, 31 August and 1 September.

The crew of the MOD Edmond de Rothschild Group

Sébastien Josse (Skipper)

David Boileau, Florent Chastel, Cyril Dardashti, Olivier Douillard, Christophe Espagnon, Antoine Koch, Thomas Rouxel

The European Tour in five legs

Leg 1: Kiel – Dun Laoghaire (Dublin) / 1188 miles, start 2 September

Leg 2: Dun Laoghaire (Dublin) – Cascais / 1215 miles, start 9 September

Leg 3: Cascais – Cascais (Around Portugal Race) / 558 miles, start 17 September

Leg 4: Cascais – Marseille / 1071 miles, start 20 September

Leg 5: Marseille – Genoa / 672 mlles, start 30 September