Monday 26 September – 1730 hours
A month to go till the launch of Edmond de Rothschild Group
Last week, Tuesday morning to be precise, the MOD Edmond de Rothschild Group
left the sheds at Keroman Technologies and took to the water to cover the
few metres separating her from the Océan Développement site, also located in
Lorient, over towards the Keroman submarine base. Although this wasn’t quite
the launch of the new Gitana craft, this change of workshop remains fairly
symbolic because this is when the one-design No.4 hit the water for the very
first time. It also means that the end of the fit-out is fast approaching.
The order placed by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild in March 2010 will thus be
completed on Tuesday 25 October 2011, the scheduled date for the launch of
the 70 footer Edmond de Rothschild Group.
In March 2010, Baron Benjamin de Rothschild expressed a desire for Gitana
Team to be one of the protagonists on the new Multi One Design circuit by
taking command of the one-design No.4. However, the construction of the new
Gitana craft itself began a year later in the three nerve centres where this
latest generation trimaran is created. Like a jigsaw puzzle, the different
pieces are manufactured separately before being assembled in Lorient. In
fact, the project management of the MOD 70s is entrusted to the company CDK
Technologies, based in Port-la-Forêt, but the main focus of the
Finistère-based company is the manufacture of the central hull. Meantime, a
few kilometres further south, in Vannes, the Multiplast yards are getting
down to the construction of pairs of floats for the 70’ one-designs. As for
the beams, these are made not far from the banks of Lake Geneva. Indeed the
Décision SA yard, which has played an active role in the development of the
D35 one-design class, is part of the adventure. Once these main structural
pieces of the platform are manufactured, they are delivered to the sheds of
Keroman Technologies in Lorient to be assembled. The work on the MOD 70
Edmond de Rothschild Group began in mid-July and was complete by the start
of September. After a few weeks spent on her livery, the trimaran Gitana has
now joined the Océan Développement yard, opposite the Cité de la Voile Eric
Tabarly in Lorient, where she’s on the home straight in her construction
programme.
Over the coming weeks, the MOD SA teams will proceed with the positioning of
the deck hardware (winches, blocks, sheaves…), the installation of the
electric and electronic circuit, the hydraulics and the mechanics aboard the
boat, not to mention the essential attaching and tensioning of the
trampolines which link the hulls together. Finally, the trimaran will be
equipped with all her different appendages (float rudders, daggerboards and
foils). In short, another five weeks’ work in prospect before the MOD 70
Edmond de Rothschild Group can be placed in the capable hands of the men
from Gitana Team. A month’s sea trials will follow to commission the
one-design.
Gitana 11, guest at the Krys Match
From 6 to 8 October 2011, the first confrontation of the Multi One Design
will take place in La Trinité-sur-Mer, south-west Brittany. It will
certainly be a friendly encounter as the score won’t count towards the Multi
One Championship, but the class’ first three trimarans and their crews will
be able to size each other up during the three days of racing, where there
will be alternate Races and shorter Speed runs. As they await the arrival of
the MOD No.4, the Gitana Team will nevertheless be part of the action aboard
one of the flagships of Baron Benjamin de Rothschild’s fleet, Gitana 11.
Spanning 77 feet, compared with the 70 that make up the MODs, Gitana 11 is
very similar to the one-designs. Indeed, even though he’ll have to be
patient for just a little longer before he finds himself on an equal footing
with his rivals, skipper Sébastien Josse is delighted at the prospect of
this meeting: “The Krys Matches are an opportunity for us to do battle with
some of our future rivals. It’s always more appealing to see how you perform
against the others rather than sailing on your own. On paper, Gitana 11 is
slightly faster, but we saw during the Rolex Fastnet Race that the boats
were fairly similar in terms of performance. In contrast to the Fastnet, the
Krys Matches are round-the-cans races. Such an exercise is synonymous with
numerous manœuvres, which the MODs are more suited to than Gitana 11. In
fact, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the boat was modified for the Route du
Rhum and for single-handed sailing. However, it will all depend on the
weather conditions. The idea is to get some races under our belts and see
how the crew behaves during the races manœuvres, with less focus on the
speed tests!”
For this Breton meeting, the skipper of the future MOD Edmond de Rothschild
Group has put together a crew of experienced sailors. He’ll be accompanied
by Thomas Rouxel, David Boileau, Olivier Douillard, Antoine Koch, Florent
Chastel, Jean-Baptiste Levaillant and Christophe Espagnon.
The MOD 70 Edmond de Rothschild Group
No. in the series: No.4
LOA: 21.2 m
Overall beam: 16.8 m
Air draught: 29 m
Water draught: 4.50 m
Light displacement: 6.3 tonnes
Upwind sail area: 310 m2
Downwind sail area: 409 m2
Scheduled delivery: 25 October 2011
Find all the latest news about Gitana Team at www.gitana-team.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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