Wonderful weather in store. For all there is not much wind until around midday, once it does kick in, the boats have everything they need to sail well and get down to the business of racing. Gitana has been in location since Saturday 7th June, and conditions have been similar since they arrived, enabling them to have one or two session on the water. Outings to improve crew cohesion and to fine tune sail trim. The training period has been pretty short though as the boat's new dagger board could not be prepared in time. When all is said and done, Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant) has lent a dagger board which was just fitted on Wednesday. After having had a number of hours spent on it, it does slide into the casing but it cannot be pivoted.
Determined
Damage suffered by the boat, upsets and lengthy technical validations do not do a lot of good for troupe moral. The time spent out on the water is shortened each time and finding the boat's speed is tough going. "Lionel Lemonchois : "I've never spent so little time sailing...", confirmed the trimaran's skipper. But the team is very determined. Yann Marilley, Team Manager : "It's true that we haven't found our feet yet, and there's still a lot of work to be done. But we're not going to give up now...".
A very pertinent comment as on Thursday 12th June, during the first training session, after having got off to a good start, manœuvred well and improved sail trim (with the specific Grand Prix main sail), Gitana finished 5th, pipped at the post by Sodebo (Thomas Coville) on the last run downwind.
Weather reports for the three days ahead forecast southerly thermal winds of no more than 15/18 knots. Gitana should come off all right. In any event, the whole Team is motivated, both to continue its apprenticeship of the platform and in their will to produce some good results.
Crew for the Cagliari Grand Prix
| Lionel Lemonchois / F : | Skipper |
| Benjamin de Rothschild : | Performer |
| Nicolas Berthoud / CH : | Mainsail |
| François Denis / F : | N°1 / Bowman |
| Philippe Durr / CH : | Tactician |
| Thierry Barot / F : | Pit |
| Jean-Baptiste Epron / F : | Mainsail trimmer |
| Marc Guessard / F : | Navigator |
| Jean-Paul Levrel / F : | Grinder |
| Yann Marilley / F : | Runner |
| Olivier Wroczynski / F : | Runner |
More information about Cagliari Grand Prix
Veiled reference
Two Gitana will be seen out on the water in Cagliari. Gitana VI has set up her summer camp in the Mediterranean and before participating in La Giraglia from 17th to 2
4nd June (Saint-Tropez/F-Genova/Ital), the 19 metre long monohull on which Benjamin de Rothschild cut his teeth, has come to sail not far from the course.