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

Sunday 03 January 2021

2021 set to get off to a most auspicious start?

With a plan to set sail on the Jules Verne Trophy being studied for the the coming week, Gitana Team is switching to code orange this Sunday. This chromatic change heralds a potential departure within the next 48 to 72 hours. Today, conditions in the North Atlantic appear to be coming together, but it remains to be seen whether its counterpart weather system in the southern hemisphere will also decide to play ball. The coming days will be crucial in this decision. In the meantime, the six sailors on the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild are ready to go and make no secret of their eagerness to finally get going on their mission to reduce the reference time set in 2017 by Francis Joyon and his men.

Code orange, step one of countdown

“We’re targeting a departure from the middle of next week! Right now, things look promising. We now need to allow some time to pass to find out whether the situation will evolve as we’d like or if it will deteriorate, as it did during the run-up to the New Year’s Eve celebrations”, explained Cyril Dardashti, director of the team, who has learnt to use the conditional tense until the start line is crossed.
In fact, today’s outlook is positive and the bulk of the departure criteria drawn up by the skippers of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild are coming together. The weather cell, led by their router Marcel van Triest, is all set to refine and confirm the departure strategy each time the grib files are updated.

Having experienced several returns to standby over recent weeks, the members of Gitana Team are perfectly accustomed to the weather dictating proceedings. However, if this window does come good and 2021 kicks off in fine fashion, the five-arrow team will be in position to start the stopwatch and take up the gauntlet.

Jules Verne Trophy memo:

Crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild:

Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, skippers
David Boileau, trimmer bowman
Erwan Israël, helm trimmer
Morgan Lagravière, helm trimmer
Yann Riou, trimmer media man

Marcel van Triest, weather router
Yann Eliès, replacement crew

Record to beat:

40 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes > Record held by Francis Joyon and his crew (Idec Sport) since 26 January 2017.