Multiplast's multihulls master Pacific
______________________________________________________________________

By improving Gerinimo's previous reference time by almost 4 days on the San Francisco / Yokohama record course, Gitana 13 and her crew offer to Multiplast a new item to its head lines, in 11d 00h 12' 55''.
And one could not deny that considering the course Yokohama / San Francisco, Geronimo is still the record holder since 2006 (it was snatched from 1998 Bruno Peyron record on Explorer, an other multihull built by Multiplast and created by the Gilles Ollier Design Team).
Since ten years, Multiplast's multihulls driven by talented skippers, have opened up a way in the North Pacific Ocean which is not so pacific. After reading Gitana 13's logbook, it seems obvious that they had to face a raging ocean which lasted the 11 days of their winning crossing.

The Orc inner jib was hoisted most of the time because of strong winds sometimes reaching 60 knots, with waves up to 10 meters high. With her already 100, 000 miles at sea, Gitana 13 proves her reliability and high performance once more, and of course was led by an extremely competent crew. Lionel Lemonchois, skipper of maxi catamaran: "... Gitana 13 is a very healthy boat. Except two or three nose diving in the storm, it never let us down. The changes brought by the Gitana Team when they bought the boat back, notably the raising of the forward crossbeam, clearly improve the boat's performance as well as the safety of the crew. Despite the difficult sea conditions we've had to cope with, the boat is definitely perfect; we haven't broken a thing..."

A nice time record

Even if the weather conditions were not favourable – 2 areas of low pressure and 3 highs including one to sail round by the south – Gitana 13 managed to make her way towards the North compared to Geronimo, therefore a slightly shorter course. In the 4,482 miles of the orthodromy, the maxi multihull shows an average speed of 16.96 knots. But in fact the boat sailed some 5,616 miles on the water, with an average speed of 21.26 knots. Quite good for a first generation boat, Geronimo was launched 2 years later. The trimaran / catamaran debate is still on, more than ever. Lionel Lemonchois: "... It's a really good time reference and we're very happy..." The 11 members of the team must feel the same with this second record, after wining the Route de l'Or last February.

Gitana 13. Better to keep an eye on...

In the next few months, Gitana 13 will go on chasing the best records with short courses in the China Sea. Then, she should end her worldwide campaign and come back to Europe by one of the most mythical course: the Tea Road between Honk Kong and London. The very first historical records were supposedly born there. Clippers from the 19th century used to go through amazing water jousting like the ones that took place between the Thermopylae and the Cutty Sark in 1870 and 1871: 65 metres long ships with 3,000 m² of sail. The trip would last between 91 and 110 days, with a difference of sometimes less than 48 hours between the contestants, at the end.

Benchmark

Record San Francisco – Yokohama (E-W) / Pacifique Nord
Gitana 13 (avril 2008) / Lionel Lemonchois / 11j 00h 12' 55" / moyenne 16,96 nœuds / Catamaran de 33 m / Multiplast / Gilles Ollier Design Team
Record amélioré de 3j 22h 27' 46"

Record Yokohama / San Francisco (W-E) / Pacifique Nord
Geronimo (juin 2006) / Olivier de Kersauson / 13j 22h 38' 28" / moyenne 13,34 nœuds / Trimaran 34 m / Multiplast - Van Peteghem / Lauriot-Prévost
Explorer (août 98) / Bruno Peyron / 14j 17h 22' 50" / moyenne 12,68 noeuds / Catamaran 27 m / Multiplast / Gilles Ollier Design Team