Jules Verne Trophy: Gitana Team halts Record attempt

Gitana hit an ‘UFO’ , unidentified floating object and decided to return, review , repair and re launch soon for the record..

Report by Gitana Team media:

Lorient, Friday, November 27, 2020 – After three days at sea on their first round the world record attempt, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, in agreement with Cyril Dardashti, the director of the five-arrow racing stable, have this evening taken the decision to interrupt their record bid and return to their port of registry. This announcement comes as a result of damage that occurred when the boat collided with a UFO* yesterday, rendering it impossible for the crew to sail the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild at her full potential. Currently situated to the north of the Cape Verde archipelago, the sailors that make up Gitana Team are positioned some 1,900 miles from Lorient. Gitana 17 is now pointing her bows towards this destination.

“The decision to turn back really hasn’t been an easy one to make. It was carefully thought out and all the different parties involved in the project were consulted and the crew made the decision. It is motivated by two elements: the incident that occurred yesterday and the technical consequences discovered this afternoon, together with the quality of the window we’ve enlisted in. Indeed, day after day, our weather observations are confirming that the South Atlantic will not be showing us her best side, with a Saint Helena High that is a long way south, forcing us not just to take a big detour around the outside but also to plunge deep into the south to round the Cape of Good Hope. Even though the routing is still giving us a passage within the record time, we know that such a feat would require us to be at our full potential, which unfortunately is no longer the case. Turning back today means we can quickly return to our technical base, effect the necessary repairs and then very quickly get back on standby ready to set sail again this winter to conquer the Jules Verne Trophy”, concluded Cyril Dardashti.

When setting sail from Ushant in the early hours of Wednesday, the possibility of turning back was clearly mentioned by Franck Cammas before leaving terra firma. Though the doubts of the co-skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild were more geared around the reliability of the weather window that his crew were preparing to take on, this scenario of breaking gear was also among the cases discussed within the team in the run-up to the departure. This is not an unprecedented situation in the Jules Verne Trophy, in fact it even forms an integral part of the history of the record! Ironically, on this exact same date some 4 years ago, the crew of Idec opted to turn back whilst it was making headway to the south of the doldrums following a deterioration in the weather window. However, this first aborted attempt did not prevent them from setting sail again nineteen days later and returning to Ushant on 26 January 2017, the record and an exceptional new reference time in the bag.

Memo Jules Verne Trophy:

The figures to note:
Crossing of the start line: 25 November 2020 at 2h 26m 26s UTC
Deadline for the finish to beat the record: 5 January 2021 at 1h 55m 26s UTC

Crew of Gitana:
Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, skippers
David Boileau, trimmer bowman
Erwan Israël, helm trimmer
Morgan Lagravière, helm trimmer
Yann Riou, trimmer media man

Marcel van Triest, weather router
Yann Eliès, replacement crew

Record to beat:
40 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes > Record held by Francis Joyon and his crew (Idec Sport) since 26 January 2017.

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