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.
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.”
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.
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
|