In 2000, Baron Benjamin de Rothschild chose to perpetuate a 100 year old passion for watersports, initiated by his forebears, by expanding his family’s history to multihulls. These magnificent machines have fascinated him for a great many years, as much through their elegance as the technical skill and expertise that is required to sail them. The Gitana Team was created to form an offshore racing stable dedicated to a passion for making speed across the water and hatching fresh talent. Ten years on, Benjamin de Rothschild confirms his status as a major player in ocean racing circles – and a fervent multihull owner – by agreeing to participate in a new international oceanic class: the MOD 70, one design 70 foot trimarans.
Trimaran 70'Mod gitana 11
The third team to announce its participation in the Multi One Championship, the Gitana Team thus joins the one design Ambassador, skippered by Swiss sailor Stève Ravussin, and the trimaran Foncia, helmed by Michel Desjoyeaux, in writing this new page on oceanic multihulls. An undisputed affection for the craft as well as an infatuation for crewed races, where the team spirit and cohesion so dear to Baroness and Baron de Rothschild take on their true dimension, have largely guided the choices in this new, daring challenge: “Save for the Gitana Eighty adventure, the history of the Gitana Team has always been associated with multiple hulls. Following the fall of the Orma Championship and despite a concerted effort to provide a future for 60 foot multihulls, we were lacking a circuit. The Multi One Championship partly meets our requirements. Through competitive sailing we hope to perpetuate the family values: transcending ones own capabilities, the systematic search for excellence, teamwork, and an openness to the world and innovation. Ranking among the pioneers of this new class seemed natural to us.”
Cyril Dardashti, general manager of the Gitana Team, was naturally delighted with this announcement: “The decision by the boats’ owners to continue the Gitana story, by taking part in the Multi One Championship, is tremendous news for a team, which has brought the multihull class to life for what has already been nearly ten years. The provisional programme announced by the Multi One Design offers a mixture of oceanic and Grand Prix style races, however the approach goes further than that of the Orma Championship, since a round the world with stopovers will be organised every three years. This new dimension has additional appeal. The restricted intake imposed per nation and the desire for international openness which ensues, are also very important factors about this circuit. Indeed the Orma championship suffered in its time through, among other things, being overly Franco-French. I hope that overseas crews will appreciate this project and come and join us.”
Gitana 11
In his position as President of Multi One Design S.A., Marco Simeoni welcomes the Gitana Team’s entry the fray within the Multi One Championship: “It’s an honour and a great pleasure for Multi One Design SA to play host to a team of such renown as Gitana in the MOD 70’ championship. Gitana Team’s track record and the loyalty of Baron Benjamin de Rothschild towards the multihull are exemplary. This participation already demonstrates the high level of the competition that will be racing in the Multi One Championship. We’d like to wish the whole Gitana team a warm welcome and look forward to seeing you in September 2011 for the launch of the MOD 70’ Gitana.”
The MOD 70’ Gitana, whose delivery is scheduled during the course of September 2011, will be the ninth yacht from the Gitana Team to defend the colours of the Edmond de Rothschild Group on seas across the globe. In the run-up to the arrival of this new craft, the team is concentrating on its major competitive objective of 2010, namely the Route du Rhum, which will set off from Saint Malo, France on 31st October 2010. Finally the Gitana sailing season will also be marked by the participation of the Edmond de Rothschild Group catamaran in the Extreme Sailing Series; a European inshore race circuit in which the performance of Yann Guichard and his men shone out in 2009, when they took second place in the championship. The first Grand Prix of the 2010 season is to take place in Sète, southern France, from 27th to 30th May 2010.
MOD 70’ Gitana Trimaran
The MOD 70’ Gitana
LOA: 21.4 m
Beam: 16.91 m
Air draught: 28.5 m
Light displacement: 6.2 tonnes
Upwind sail area: 267 m2
Downwind sail area: 397 m2
Start of construction: end 2010
Delivery scheduled: September 2011
The 2010-2014 Programme for Gitana Team
Extreme Sailing Series 2010
French GP (Sète, Hérault)
27th – 30th May 2010
British GP (Cowes, Isle of Wight)
31st July – 5th August 2010
German GP (Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein)
26th – 29th August 2010
Italian GP (Trapani, Sicily)
23rd – 26th September 2010
Spanish GP (Almeria, Andalusia)
9th – 12th October 2010
Route de Rhum – La Banque Postale 2010
Start of the Route du Rhum (Saint Malo / Pointe-à-Pitre)
31st October 2010
Multi One Design Championship 2011-2014
Pro-Am, promotional race bringing together skippers and guests
(objective of four boats)
November 2011
European Tour in crewed configuration
(6 to 8 stages, objective of eight boats)
May – June 2012
Oceanic race in crewed configuration
November 2012
European Tour in crewed configuration
(6 to 8 stages)
June – July 2013
Round the World in crewed configuration
(5 to 6 stages, 5 oceans, objective of twelve boats)
November 2013 – April 2014
On 16th April 2010, whilst Yann Guichard was carrying out a solo training session offshore, the maxi-trimaran Gitana 11 suffered float damage. To avoid taking any unnecessary risk and given the blustery conditions reigning over the zone at the time, it was decided that a pit stop would be necessary in Dingle (Ireland) – the port closest to where the incident happened – to effect temporary repairs and make it back to Gitana Team’s technical base as quickly as possible. Returning to La Trinité-sur-Mer on Monday 26th April, the most recent of the Gitana fleet has since been lifted back into one of the base’s sheds in nearby Saint-Philibert for a refit and further consolidation as a precautionary measure. The team will also benefit from this time on the hard to look ahead to the running maintenance, which was initially scheduled to take place during the summer.
After a pit stop in Dingle, Yann Guichard was able to head back out to sea again and set a course, single-handed, for Gitana 11’s port of registry. The minute the 77 foot maxi-trimaran was tied up at the Loic Caradec jetty in La Trinité-sur-Mer, the shore crew, led by William Fabulet, organised for her to be lifted out onto the hard. “Our 2010 programme of fine tuning and sailing was designed so that Gitana 11 could be back in the water early in the season. Our aim was to focus on testing the platform in some varied wind conditions, which is an element that wasn’t entirely completed in the autumn of 2009 due to the lack of opportunities in the weather. However, the conditions encountered in mid-April, during my solo trip, were particularly trying for the boat, especially as regards the short, cross seas” explained Yann Guichard before going on to specify the issues involved: “At that point, Gitana 11’s new floats showed signs of weakness around the forward beam. These observations have prompted us to reinforce this zone.”
Right now, discussions are underway between the project’s various technical contributors, namely Gitana Team’s design office, the VPLP naval architecture firm and HDS, a company specialised in structural calculation.
“Following the detection of anomalies in the floats, the shore team will err on the side of caution and carry out a thorough inspection of each of the hulls to protect them. Nothing can be left to chance and these operations will require Gitana 11 to be moved back into the shed” confided Cyril Dardashti, the team manager at Baron Benjamin de Rothschild’s racing stable.
As with the motor industry, competitive sailing, especially that involving oceanic multihulls, is a mechanical sport. The fine tuning of prototypes calls for numerous adjustments. These technical vagaries are nevertheless a way of moving forward and improving the machines so as to get the very best out of them. It’s all part of the rules of the game! With six months to go till the start of the legendary transatlantic race between Saint Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre, the men and women that make up the Gitana Team are continuing to hone the maxi-trimaran Gitana 11 to ensure that the reigning champion is all ready to take up the challenge at the end of October.
