pp class="txaJ"In a month’s time, Edmond de Rothschild Group will be moored at the foot of Manhattan’s skyscrapers, ready to set off on the first official race of the Multi One Championship. In view of this major gathering, Sébastien Josse and his men are continuing with their training sessions and linking together a series of sea trials: ieach time we go out on the water gives us a better understanding of the boat and how we operate aboard. And that’s increasingly true in competition. That’s why we’ve opted to compete in the Tour de Belle-Ile, the ArMen Race and finally the SNSM Record. These pre-season races teach us a great deal and have already given us some ideas of how close the racing will be aboard our one-designs./i/p p class="txaJ"/p p class="txaJ"Loyal to the event which supports lifeboat men and women, this year Sébastien Josse is competing in his fifth SNSM Record, the second at the helm of Gitana. iI really like the format of this race and it’s always a real pleasure to come along and be part of it. The SNSM Record provides us with an interesting line-up, with four MODs on the start line, a fine coastal course which favours close-contact racing and, most importantly of course, the SNSM Record is for a good cause, which it is only natural for us to honour!/i/p p class="txaJ"/p p class="txaJ"The conditions, which await those competing in the 2012 edition are forecast to be wet and windy. Indeed, in the main there is likely to be between 15 and 20 knots of breeze, gusting to around 25 knots. However, with the wind coming from just where they will be heading, the crew certainly aren’t going to be sparing any effort: manuvres and sail changes will doubtless colour the decks of the multihulls. Just a few hours prior to the start, Edmond de Rothschild Group’s navigator, Antoine Koch, summed up the situation: iOn the whole, the wind should be fairly stable in terms of strength and direction and it will be coming from exactly where we want to go. That translates as a series of tacks to make Sainte Marine and then we’ll head back to Saint Nazaire under gennaker, but still making a series of tack changes. As such, we’ll have to prepare ourselves for a great many tacks and gybes so a new reference time for the event is out of the question for this year! /iAccording to the latest routing, the MOD 70 fleet should complete the theoretical 360-mile course in around twenty hours, giving an ETA in Saint Nazaire of around early afternoon on Monday./p p class="txaJ"/p h5bThe crew of Edmond de Rothschild Group /b/h5 pbSébastien Josse/b, skipper - helmsman/p pbAntoine Koch/b, navigator helmsman - trimmer/p pbChristophe Espagnon/b, helmsman - trimmer/p pbDavid Boileau/b, helmsman - trimmer/p pbThomas Rouxel/b, helmsman - trimmer/p pbFlorent Chastel/b, Bowman - helmsman - trimmer/p p/p h5bThe SNSM Record/b/h5 pThis marine event came about in 2005 through the desire to promote safety at sea and encourage support for the volunteer lifeboat men and women from the SNSM (French equivalent of the RNLI). Based on an idea by Damien Grimont, the event’s creator and organiser, the SNSM Record came into being in line with the initials SN and SM between Saint Nazaire and Saint Malo. In 2009, the format changed and a new course between Saint Nazaire and Sainte Marine (Bénodet, Finistère) was offered to competitors. Each year the Record gathers together different categories of boats driven by both professional and amateur skippers alike. All of the classes and boats represented will set off from the same place at the same time./p pThe course for the MOD 70s consists of two return legs between Saint Nazaire and Saint Marine, which equates to around 360 miles./p/p