| Brazil. TJV: Gitana 11 crosses the line in 2nd at 18:50:15 GMT |
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| Monday, 21 November 2005 | |
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Mary Ambler: Géant expected in within the next hour... Gitana 11, skippered by Fred Le Peutrec and Yann Guichard, literally flew across the finish line on one float at a rate of knots, press boats barely able to keep up, to finish 2nd in the ORMA Multihull 60 class at 18:50:15 GMT, 4 o'clock local time. Arriving just 3 hours, 3 minutes and 46 seconds after winner Banque Populaire, Gitana 11 clocked up 14 days 4 hours 50 minutes and 15 seconds at sea, covering the 5,190 direct route at an average theoretical boat speed of 15.13 knots. Read on for summary of their race...skippers' first words to come later. With only 3 hours and 3 minutes deficit behind Banque Populaire at the end, Fred Le Peutrec and Yann Guichard have sailed a brilliant race. They made one pit-stop at Camaret, in Northern Brittany, the day after the start, which cost them 60 miles, but more importantly it meant that they were behind the flank of the fleet going into the cold front, which resulted in the skippers taking a different and decisive strategy for their descent South. By sticking closer to the African coastline after passing the Canaries, Gitana 11 came back in force on the top two boats entering the Doldrums. By cutting the corner to the East of rivals Banque Populaire and Géant, Gitana 11 spend several hours even in the lead of the race. But this unpredictable area of calms was extended for them over in the East, and Le Peutrec and Guichard had to concede again 60 miles on the leaders. So they fought the battle for 2nd place with Géant, Desjoyeaux and Destremau opting for a more Westerly Equator crossing. Gitana 11 went into upwind combat with Géant towards the Ascension Island, the former taking an Easterly option still whereas Géant kept more South in their route. Passing the British outpost, Gitana 11 came through with just a 20 odd mile margin over Géant before the final 1,000 mile spurt to the finish in strong downwind Trade conditions. Géant chose to follow more or less the rhumb line, whereas Gitana 11 luffed and followed the leader’s route in. At the end these two boats were no more than 15 miles apart, a negligible gap of less than an hour flying along at 20+ knots boatspeed! www.jacques-vabre.com |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 21 November 2005 ) |
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