Dream come true

We speak to Lionel Lemonchois and look at his career, his boat and his outstanding achievement

The early hours of Monday morning saw a new name enter sailing's history books when Lionel Lemonchois fulfilled every French schoolboys' fantasy (including his own), steering his 60ft trimaran Gitana 11 to line honours in the Route du Rhum. But his mere win in France's most historic singlehanded transat was only half the story. The 46 year old Frenchman demolished the record, setting an impossibly fast time time that is certain stand for at least a decade.

The blue and white form of Gitana 11, cruised across the Pointe a Pitre finish line in the dark on Monday at 0521 GMT (0121 local time in Guadeloupe), taking 4 days 15 hours off Laurent Bourgnon's 1998 record, establishing a new time of 7 days 17 hours, 19 minutes and 6 second. To put this into perspective Lemonchois took just 62% of the time to get Guadeloupe than the fastest ever previously.

Remembering how light the start was in St Malo a week and a half ago, followed by the initial upwind section, Gitana 11's average speed was still 19.11 knots down the direct course.



The weather for this year's race has not been typical, to put it mildly. The great circle course for the Route du Rhum is to the north of the Azores but usually there is a giant high pressure system, the Azores high parked over the middle of the course. Hence the typical route to the Caribbean at this time of year is to dive a long way south skirting the south side of the high, eventually picking up the favourable trade winds propelling you towards the Caribbean.

For the Route du Rhum, the boats started in light headwinds as they left the English Channel and then as they were south of Ireland keyed into the south side of a depression and then the bottom of a giant high pressure system, way further north than normal. So they sailed into the south side of the depression in southwesterlies, tacking as the wind veered northwest, then as the wind continued to veer around to the northeast as they came under the influence of the high, they gybed south towards the Azores.

It was the timing of this tack and the subsequent gybe that would ultimately determine the outcome of the race. Lemonchois working with his shore based routers Sylvian Mondon and Olympic Tornado sailor Yann Guichard ("they were the head, while I was the arms," he paid tribute to them on his arrival) chose a southerly position from this first tack on the night for 30 October as race favourites Desjoyeaux and Cammas were some 50 miles further north. At this stage he began to edge ahead. He consolidated this left hand side of the course option with the next gybe at midday the next day moving into the lead in the early hours of 1 November averaging 25 knots as those to the north could only manage 22. His route took him through the 70 mile wide gap between the Azores islands - a good strategy given the easterly wind direction at the time (others such as Franck Cammas on Groupama, got nailed in the lee of the islands).

From pretty much the second morning, 31 October, the wind had shifted round to the NNW and from here the ORMA 60s were downwind in 20 knots or more breeze all the way to the finish. As Lemonchois told thedailysail "I believe I got the upper hand two or three days after the start. When we got past the first low pressure system, I found myself in a good position to leeward of the fleet and my competition, and I was able to take off more easily in front, and I always had the upper hand towards the end of the race."

In these conditions 60ft trimarans eat up the miles and Lemonchois was regularly able to make daily runs in the 500-550 mile range, several times posting 24 hour mileages that would have been record breaking for a singlehanded sailor less than a year ago. A 550 mile day equates to an average speed of 23 knots .

Aside from blistering pace and good fortune with the weather, one of the reasons for Lemonchois' amazing record, was due to the positioning of the various weather systems they encountered. Gitana 11was able to stray only a little from the great cricle, as was the case with most of the leading ORMA 60 trimarans.

As we have mentioned the great circle for the Route du Rhum takes the boats north of the Azores and looking back at previous races, only two previous winners have been able to take this route - Florence Arthaud on Pierre 1er in 1990 and Laurent Bourgnon on Primagaz in 1998. This year the Azores high initially wasn't in evidence, but when it did move over the central north Atlantic it was well to the north of the Azores and this allowed the 60ft tris, as well as a majroity of the boats competing in the Route du Rhum right down to the Class 40s, to either sail through the middle of the Azores archipelago or leave. For the ORMA 60 this was not only in pressure, but also with a favourable wind angle. As a result Lemonchois was able to stay close to the great circle minimising the length of the race course. He reckons he sailed only 255 extra miles than he needed to.
Thus Lemonchois' average speed for the 3797 miles he sailed was 20.49 knots. This pace is hard to conceive on this particular course at this time of year, even fully crewed. As the President of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe, Victorin Lurel, put it when addressing Lemonchois on his arrival on Monday: “We will have to rechristen this race. It is no longer the Route du Rhum, it is the Autoroute du Rhum!”

The steed

Gitana 11 has become thedailysail's adopted 60ft trimaran since we participated in her delivery from La Trinite to London earlier this year (read about this here - see the video here). The boat is a design by Vincent Lauriot Prevost and Marc van Peteghem, the most prolific architects in the ORMA 60 class at present, and was originally built as Belgacom for French sailor Jean-Luc Nelias. Under Nelias' command the boat was regularly in the top five but pulled out of the 2002 Route du Rhum when the cars at the top of the mast track began to pull off, while a severe leak had also developed down below. In the Transat Jacques Vabre the following year Nelias posted a creditable second sailing with his old skipper Loick Peyron, however at this end of this season the backing from his Belgium telecom company sponsor ran out and the boat was put on the market.

At around this time Baron Benjamin de Rothschild was getting seriously interested in the ORMA 60 circuit. He had previously had Gitana X built, taking the traditional name for his family's yachts. On paper Gitana X looked phenomenal, built by Multiplast and with a design team including Giles Ollier, Sebastien Schmidt and C-Class specialist Duncan MacLane (read more about this here) and had an interesting design with the purest X beam configuration (the fibres literally being built as a structural cat's cradle beneath the mast step). Unfortunately out on the water the boat turned out to be overweight and ultimately a pig. Lionel Lemonchois sailed her in the last Route du Rhum but was forced to retire when the top of her mast snapped off.

In order to improve his team's chances, early in 2004 Baron Rothschild acquired Belgacom, renaming her Gitana 11 (and two years later he would buy Jean le Cam's former Bonduelle trimaran, subsequently becoming Gitana 12).

The modern crop of ORMA 60 trimarans, mostly built for the disastrous 2002 Route du Rhum range in beam from 17.5m (Alain Gautier's Foncia) to 18.6m (Thomas Coville's Sodebo) and at 18.30m Gitana XI is 2mm wider than she is long making her one of the most powerful of the ORMA 60s, but also potentially one of the heaviest.

As ever radical surgery has been performed to the boat and this year for example her cockpit layout was completely modifed while the bottom half of her main hull was loped off along its full length and another added with a flatter run aft and more curvature in her forefoot, improving her manoeuvrability. Ironically both sets of modifications were carried out to make her more competitive on the MultiCup Grand Prix circuit Baron Rothschild has masterminded.

Lionel Lemonchois says prior to the Route du Rhum he made no great modicifations to the boat. "When I came on board the boat, I made it my boat, as in things that I like for sailing solo, small things. Nothing big. For example, we made steering seats which are more ergonomic, to be able to rest more quickly and easily. We concentrated particularly on ways for me to recharge. So after the modifications, it was more about adapting the boat for solo sailing, but no great modifications in terms of these boats in general."

In fact the little things included changing the rope mainsheet system, prefered for the Grand Prix, across to a hydraulic ram system, prefered for solo racing. They adapted the stay arrangement for the rig to allow one more degree of rake for her 100ft tall rotating, canting wing-profile spar and with the trend in the ORMA 60s towards gigantic flat top mainsails, they reduced the mainsail's roach to something more managable for singlehanding.

Gitana Team Manager and 60ft trimaran guru, Loick Peyron, who went to Guadeloupe by 747 this year, reckons Gitana XI was the perfect hardware given the conditions in this race. "She has a little more buoyancy on the floats and the foils are a little more forward than Groupama II for instance so that makes the boat very very safe reaching, that is really impressive. The tool was perfect."

Her skipper agrees: " Gitana 11’s a superb boat for this event. If I had to choose from the fleet of trimarans capable of doing the Route du Rhum, I would pick Gitana 11! She’s one of the best-suited boats to this course: she’s a very sound trimaran on the ocean, powerful, reliable and behaves very nicely when sailed solo. She’s also very safe downwind and optimised for ocean races. The deck and cockpit layouts are perfect for solo competition."


Who is Lionel Lemonchois?

Rather like Francis Joyon's impressive and unexpected win in the 2000 OSTAR, so race pundits, including ourselves, were fancying the name sailors - the Cammases, Desjoyeauxs and Gautiers - for a race win in this year's Route du Rhum. Of the 12 skippers competing in the ORMA 60 class Lemonchois was one of the least known of the potential favourites. In fact while he may not have much international profile, Lemonchois' background in the French offshore racing worlds spans more than 20 years and in these circles he is respected, if not revered.

Lemonchois has undertaken projects in his own right before, most notably in the Mini and Figaro classes before being propelling into the limelight as skipper of Gitana X prior to the last Route du Rhum. However aside from being a most sought after crew, he is also known on the French offshore circuit as one of the top shore crew, able to bring his long experience and deep technical knowledge to bear.

Born on 2 February 1960, and heralding from Bayeux (yes, where the famous tapestry is) in Normandy, Lemonchois now lives in Crach' near La Trinite-sur-Mer with his family and two children.

His association with the sea is as long as it is diverse, from working on his uncle's barge recovering wrecks to diving in the Caribbean searching for rare and precious sea shells. He has worked all around the world in all manner of jobs including boat deliveries, running a day charter operation in French Polynesia to laying parquet flooring.

He learned the basics of sailing with his family and crossed the Atlantic for the first time with friends aged 18. He got into maxi monohulls sailing alongside the likes of Yves Pajot (brother of Marc) and Halvard Mabire in the mid-1980s before jumping on board Francois Boucher's Ker Cadelac foiler trimaran, his first foray into the French short handed offshore world.

In the late 1980s and 1990s he put himself through the French solo sailing school. Moving back to France from Bora Bora, he set about building his own Mini with his own money. His boat, the proto Clips Entreprises, was launched only 15 days prior to the start of the 1989 Mini Transat yet he finished 11th.

Lemonchois followed this up with a sixth place in the 1991 Mini Transat and a 4th in 1995. He was hotly tipped for a win in the 1999 race aboard his immaculate Lombard design Mecenat Chirurgie Cardiaque until it suffered two dismastings during the race. (The boat was subsequently bought by the canny Brit Simon Curwen who finally did the honours finishing second overall in 2001.) Lemonchois also spent three seasons in the early 1990s campaigning in the Figaro class.

During the late 1990s he sealed his reputation as a top 'preparateur' working on Isabelle Autissier's Open 60 campaigns and sailed on board when Autissier's PRB finished second in the Route de l'Or race from New York to San Francisco in 1997. He subsequently went on to work with Catherine Chabaud's Whirlpool Open 60 campaign for the Vendee Globe.

His credentials as not only a top shore crew but also a sailor were secured when in 2000 he won the Figaro class' double handed Transat AG2R sailing with Karine Fauconnier on board Sergio Tacchini-Itineris. In recent years he has spent time sailing on many of the top Open 60s and ORMA 60s and also sailed around the world on Cam Lewis' Team Adventure in The Race and with Bruno Peyron on Orange II when they set the present Jules Verne Trophy record.

As a character Lemonchois is quiet, mild mannered to the point of shyness and while hugely knowledgable and experienced he comes with little ego, even as a Route du Rhum winner. It is for all these reasons that he is so hugely respected through the business in France and why he has so successfully sailed with or worked for so many of the big names within the French offshore sailing scene including: François Boucher, Jimmy Pahun, Halvard Mabire, Isabelle Autissier, Catherine Chabaud, Karine Fauconnier, Cam Lewis, Yvan Bourgnon, Philippe Monnet, Bruno Peyron, Pascal Bidégorry, Dominic Vittet, Franck Cammas, Bertrand de Broc, Loïck Peyron, etc etc.

His role within the Gitana team has been a circuitous one. Aside from his outstanding credentials generally, it was perhaps his AG2R win that landed him the job originally as skipper of Baron Rothschild's Gitana X, but after a lacklustre couple of seasons, Lemonchois stood down as Gitana's skipper at the beginning of 2004. He was replaced by the amiable former Tornado sailor Fred le Peutrec, however over the course of this season, le Peutrec has been eased off the helm for grand prix, by 60ft trimaran guru Loick Peyron, who was brought in to manage the team. After all why would you have Russell Coutts manage your America's Cup team when he could be steering too?

Some were surprised Peyron wasn't at the helm of Gitana XI for this year's Route du Rhum as this is the only major trimaran race where victory has eluded him. However as Peyron explained to thedailysail this was never an option: "My choice was made a long time ago. Four years ago, before the start of the last Route du Rhum I had already decided that I didn’t want to do any more singlehanded multihull sailing. I have done so many of them, I had a chance to say no to that. But then when I had the chance to lead the Gitana team, Lionel was not in the team and one of my first decisions with Benjamin Rothscild was to get Lionel to do the Route du Rhum." And so Gitana's original trimaran skipper returned...

For the Route du Rhum Lemonchois began training in late September out of the Figaro training school in Port la Foret, alongside Michel Desjoyeaux's Géant, Franck Cammas' Groupama 2 and the nipper Antoine Koch on Sopra Group. "The training course was extremely useful: when I saw Michel’s ease and speed of manoeuvring singlehanded, I realised that I still had a lot to learn," Lemonchois said prior to the start. "I’ve been dreaming of doing the Route du Rhum since the first race in 1978! I was even at the start on the quayside back then, imagining doing it myself one day… It’s a route I know well due to the Mini Transat and the numerous deliveries I’ve made over the years. It’s a very specific exercise, some would say 'high-performance'. There’s nothing that hard about it: it’s mostly a matter of many hours of work and preparation. The machine has to be perfectly tuned and the skipper needs to be at ease and mentally relaxed. The mental preparation is primarily to do with motivation, and I’m ready."

On his arrival in Poine a Pitre at the end of the race Lemonchois was understandably overwhelmed. “It is incredible, it is brilliant. To take part in the Route du Rhum has always been a dream, but to win! It hasn't sunk in yet. I am dreaming, I am dreaming , I am in heaven. The boat did not sail, it flew! During all the race, the boat was magic. It answered perfectly all that I asked of her, a formidable union between us was formed."

Of his incredible pace Lemonchois commented: "You get accustomed to the speed. When the boat sailed below 25 knots I had the impression I was going slowly. Since I was appointed skipper to sail this boat singlehanded in June, I was immediately confident in her. Even at 35 knots under autopilot, at no time did I have the feeling that it was too much or that I was endangering myself."

In the downwind conditions Gitana XI seemed to excel, on several occasions noticably faster than her competitors. Lemonchois told us this came as a surprise to him. "To understand exactly why - I think my motivation may have been slightly greater than the others, and since I have a boat which is fairly forgiving and on which I felt there were no limits, I was perhaps able to push the boat a bit harder. And it’s true that this boat, Gitana 11, is just magic. I get the feeling that she flies over the water and at times there’s really not much of her in the water, and she’s an incredible boat. So perhaps it’s the confidence I have in this boat which allowed me to go faster, enough to make the difference with the other competitors.

"Amazingly, I stepped on Gitana 11 in July, and from the very first tacks I put in on this boat, I felt a kind of trust. When I did my qualifier, where I went off solo for five days, and experienced conditions for 48 hours a bit like those in the race, downwind in heavy breeze, I immediately understood the capability of this boat and I have absolute faith in it. When you set off on a machine you totally trust at the start in St Malo, I think you have a small advantage over certain competitors who may have been a little less sure of the capabilities of their boats."

Loick Peyron is of the opinion that as with most yacht races it was a case of having all the boxes ticked. "I think it was maybe three reasons - the boat itself, but I’m not sure because they all have the same speed potential, but Lionel had a good mindset for a lot of reasons and with the weather from the start to the arrival the best way to be in front of everyone was to be in the west. The west was better than the east. Each time the weather was less efficient for all the other guys. The main thing is that Lionel is very impressive to have the capacity to be fast all the time." Peyron adds that as a Gitana skipper Lemonchois was under no pressure - unlike MichDes it was not his last trimaran race, unlike Franck Cammas he was not race favourite and unlike Alain Gautier he did not own the boat. "He had no pressure, only the objective."

At a time when the ORMA trimaran has come in for much bad press following the disasters of the 2002 Route du Rhum and last year's Transat Jacques Vabre, so this year's race has given the class, finally, some great publicity. As Lemonchois puts it: "These are the most extraordinary boats ever invented. And nearly all of the fleet will arrive in exceptional conditions. What more can you ask?

"I hope that this Route du Rhum is the proof that these boats are the most beautiful sailing machines ever invented, and that it’s possible to have amazing races and make history. And I think with this edition of the Route du Rhum, everyone has been delighted to be a part of the race, be they sponsors, race organisers or boats. And it will encourage people to continue investing in this sport which is totally magic, and in these utterly incredible boats."

In French sailing winning the Route du Rhum ranks alongside winning the Vendee Globe, as an ultimate accolade. For Lionel Lemonchois this could open many doors, potentially allowing him to do whatever he wants. It is most likely he will continue as Gitana's solo skipper competing in the Transat in 2008 but one could equally imagine him being content to do another Mini Transat, despite claiming to us that he is too old.

While it may be hard for him to continue as a mere shore crew one gets the impression he would be more than happy doing this, for if there is one word which sums up Lemonchois as a character it is 'contentment'. As he says: "I don’t think the Route du Rhum will change anything in my life. I’m already a happy man, I live in a house in Brittany, where I have a wonderful quality of life, with children I adore, and a true passion on my doorstep. So the result - I don’t know if this expression exists in English - but we say it’s the icing on the cake. Basically, I don’t plan to change anything. I’m very happy as I am."

More photos on the following pages.

Lionel Lemonchois - sailing CV

2006
- Grand Prix du Portugal et de Fécamp : 2nd with Loïck Peyron on Gitana 11
- Cannes-Istanbul (Figaro): 3rd with Bertrand de Broc on Les Mousquetaires
- Londres-Alpes Maritimes : first with Franck Cammas on Groupama 2
- Transat AG2R : 2nd with Dominic Vittet on Atao Audio System

2005
- Transat Jacques Vabre : first with Pascal Bidégorry on Banque Populaire IV
- IB Group Challenge : first with Pascal Bidégorry on Banque Populaire IV
- Record du Trophée Jules Verne with Bruno Peyron in 50d 16h 20’ on Orange II

2000-2004
- Transat Québec-Saint Malo 2004 : 8th with Philippe Monnet on Sopra Group
- Transat Jacques Vabre 2003 : 8th on Gitana X
- Route du Rhum 2002 on Gitana X
- Challenge Mondial Assistance 2001 4th with Yvan Bourgnon on Nautica
- The Race 2000-2001 : 3rd withCam Lewis on Team Adventure
- Québec-Saint Malo 2000 : 1st with Franck Cammas on Groupama
- Transat AGR2 2000 : first with Karine Fauconnier on Sergio Tacchini-Itineris

1995-1999
- Mini Transat 1999 : 32nd (two dismasting) on Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque
- Transgascogne 1999 : 1st on Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque
- Fastnet Race 1999 : first with Catherine Chabaud on Whirlpool
- Preparation of Catherine Chabaud's Open 60 for the 1998 Vendée Globe
- Route de l'Or 1997 : 2nd with Isabelle Autissier on PRB
- Québec-Saint Malo 1996 : 7th on Spirit with Halvard Mabire
- Mini Transat 1995 : 4th on Les Jeudis du Port
- Mumm 36 Worlds 1995 : 2nd with Jimmy Pahun on K-Yote

1985-1994
- Record New York-San Francisco 1994 with Isabelle Autissier on Ecureuil Poitou-Charente
- Open UAP 1993: 1st Open 60 on Ville de Cherbourg with Halvard Mabire
- Solitaire du Figaro 1990-91-94
- Transat AG2R 1992 : 4th on Clips Entreprises with Fred Guérin
- Mini Transat 1991 : 6th on Clips Entreprises
- Circuit Figaro 1990-1991 : Clips Entreprises
- Mini Transat 1989 : 11th on Clips Entreprises
- Monaco-New York 1985 : 2nd with François Boucher on Ker Cadelac.