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

Tuesday 20 July 2004

Last sea miles

Checked in at fifty or so miles from the finish, Gitana X is expected into Saint Malo at the end of the evening and is still struggling for the 8th place in the overall rankings. A few miles ahead, Sopra Group and Banque Covefi were also having trouble making headway in the light air which have been plaguing the English Channel since yesterday and like Gitana X are both fighting against the current, which will start to flow in the other direction at 16h 30.

So there are still a few hours to wait before Marc Guillemot and his crew can close the chapter of this sixth Québec-Saint Malo yacht race. Just like the four other multis still racing, Gitana X is in a wind hole which extends as far as the finishing line. With the falling tide and no settled wind, the end of the race can seem never-ending. In any event, Gitana X will have made an excellent comeback on the peloton as she has made up 250 miles in two days on Banque Populaire, expected in around 19h in 7th position !

On board Gitana X

« The Tacchini crew is savouring its win and the followers analyse their race in the Cafés of Saint Malo : -"If we'd tacked earlier you know, when the wind picked up from 5 to 25 knots and we were a bit out of it, we'd certainly have been alongside Tacchini. She only came in 12 miles ahead of us…
Never mind! Everyone know that each race gives us food for thought. As for Gitana X, we're not at that stage yet. We saw the legendary Fastnet Rock lighthouse on Monday at 15h48 and five minutes later Karine and her crew crossed the finishing line in Saint Malo, 350 miles ahead.

We can probably safely say that we will be crossing the finishing line at around 20h00 on Tuesday 20th July. The crew believes they have given it all they had and that they couldn't have sailed a better race. We'll talk about this after the finish, after our last taste of seawater... » Marc Guillemot

Meanwhile Gitana 11 arrived in La Forêt –Fouesnant, Southern Finistère, at 14h00. The boat will be hauled out by crane tomorrow evening, where she will undergo a more detailed diagnosis for the list of work to be carried out to get her ship-shape and Bristol fashion, ready to take part in the Grand Prix de Fécamp.

Saint Malo finishers

1-Karine Fauconnier (Sergio Tacchini) Modnay 19th July at 15h 50' 54'', in 7 days 21 hours 00 minutes 54 seconds, at an average speed of 15.36 knots on the orthodromic route
2-Franck Cammas (Groupama) in 7d 21h 59' 02'' - 58' 08 from the winner
3-Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant) in 7d 22h 01' 49'' - 1h 00' 55
4-Thomas Coville (Sodebo) in 7d 22h 10' 42'' - 1h 09' 48
5-Giovanni Soldini (TIM-Progetto Italia) in 7d 23h 15' 35'' - 2h 14' 41
6-Alain Gautier (Foncia) in 8d 01h 29' 57'' - 4h 29' 03