Gitana 13's ambitious record program

Lionel Lemonchois and his crew cross the Equator on their New York-San Francisco attempt

Last Wednesday, 16 January at 1900 GMT, Route du Rhum winner Lionel Lemonchois and the crew of Baron Benjamin de Rothschild's 33m maxi-catamaran Gitana 13 embarked on her 2008 record tour - an ambitious program starting in New York and ultimately concluding in London, taking in the Far East en route.

Between January and October 2008, six record attempts will comprise this world tour:

- Route Gold (New York - San Francisco via Cape Horn)
- North Pacific Crossing (San Francisco - Yokohama)
- Yokohama - Dalian
- Dalian - Taipei
- Taipei - Hong Kong
- Route Tea (Hong Kong - London)

First up is the New York-San Francisco via Cape Horn clipper ship record, made famous by Captain P. Josiah Creesy and Flying Cloud during the Californian Gold Rush. Gitana 13 will be the first maxi-multihull to attempt this 14,000 mile long record, currently held by Yves Parlier's Open 60 Aquitaine Innovation since the Route de l'Or in 1998 when they set a time of 57 days 3 hours 21 minutes.

The course is a tough one that on the one hand involves crossing the Doldrums twice as well as rounding Cape Horn in the 'wrong' direction.

Skipper of Gitana 13 Lionel Lemonchois is familiar with the route having sailed this course twice, first with Isabelle Autissier on board the Open 60 Ecureuil Poitou-Charentes in 1994 and again in 1998 with her on board PRB.

With Lemonchois are nine crew:

Lionel Lemonchois (skipper/helmsman/watch leader)
Dominic Vittet (navigator)
Thierry Duprey du Vorsent (helmsman/watch leader)
Ludovic Aglaor (helmsman/watch leader)
Olivier Wroczynski (trimmer)
Fred Le Maistre (trimmer)
Nicolas Raynaud (trimmer/Video)
David Boileau (No. 2/trimmer/fittings)
Leopold Lucet (No.1/)
Florent Chastel (No.1/trimmer)

Given that the record is currently held by an Open 60, there is should be little trouble in Gitana 13 claiming this record, provided she makes it around and has half reasonable weather.

6 days, 14 hours and 52 minutes into her attempt, yesterday at 7:24 GMT, Gitana 13 had already crossed the Equator.

From on board journalist Nicolas Reynaud made some comparisons with outbound passages in past Jules Verne Trophy attempts: "The route between New York and the equator is 200 miles longer than when starting from Brest. For the record, the best time between Brest and the equator is for Olivier de Kersauson, who on Geronimo in 2003, managed 6 days, 11 hours and 26 minutes. So on Gitana 13, with 200 additional miles on the clock, we were only 3:26 slower than the best performance on record.