Gitana's two boat team

Another first for Baron Rothschild's team on the ORMA 60ft trimaran circuit

While the departure of sponsors such as Bayer, Belgacom and Biscuits la Trinitaine from the ORMA might indicate that the 60ft trimaran class is no longer in the ascendency with 17 boats taking the start of grand prix, bucking the trend is the class' only 'owner' - Baron Benjamin de Rothschild.

After the disappointing performance of his all-new Gitana X - rumoured to be considerably heavier than she should have been - last year the Baron purchased Jean-Luc Nelias' Belgacom. While many assumed that the old boat would become the next Rothschild cruising boat we have been proved wrong with the news that the Baron plans to campaign not one, but both his two trimarans on the ORMA circuit this year.

Lionel Lemonchois is to move across to the new Gitana XI, the former Belgacom while the experienced Marc Guillemot, former skipper of Biscuits la Trinitaine will become the new skipper of Gitana X. Lemonchois and Guillemot will both be responsible for the technical and sports programmes of each of the boats. Yann Marilley will coordinate the entire Gitana Team operation - now comprising nearly 30 people.

In addition to the two skippers, the crews will include well known names from the multihull circuit such as Olivier Wroczynski, François Denis, Nicolas Raynaud, Jean-Baptiste Epron, Dominic Bourgeois and Yvon Daniel; Tornado Olympians Yann Guichard and Frédéric Le Peutrec; French rugby player Frederic Brousse, others with more regatta backgrounds such as Marc Guessard and Yann Marilley, and of course… Baron Benjamin de Rothschild.

With two boats in their possession the Gitana team will become the first trimaran team to be able to carry out two boat testing in earnest in a similar fashion to Volvo Ocean Race teams such as EF and Amer Sports.

The 2004 calendar for the ORMA circuit has now been announced:

Grand Prix, La Trinité sur Mer, France, fully crewed: 29 April-2 May
The Transat (ex OSTAR) - Plymouth-Boston - singlehanded. Departure: 31/05 – ETA: 12/06
Transat Quebec-Saint Malo, fully crewed Departure: 11/05 – ETA: 21/07
Grand Prix, Fécamp, France fully crewed: 26-29 August
Italy Grand Prix, fully crewed: 16-19 September
Grand Prix, Marseille, France, fully crewed: 30 September - 3 October