All systems are go, with two months to go
by Gitana Team 9 Sep 14:18 BST
Gitana Team continue preparations for the 13th Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe © E. Stichelbaut / PolaRYSE / GITANA S.A.
With fewer than 60 days before the start of the 13th Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, everything is gathering pace!
For defending champion Charles Caudrelier and the Gitana Team this is especially true, given that they have a highly innovative maxi-trimaran that was only launched eight months ago. Setting their own pace, the five-arrow badged outfit have chosen to prioritise preparation and technical fine-tuning of the 32-metre giant ahead of September's head-to-head clashes. The Route du Rhum will therefore be the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild's first ever major race outing. Charles Caudrelier's ambition, as he defends his Route du Rhum 'crown', is to line up at the start in Saint-Malo at the helm of a competitive giant, capable of matching rivals who are also razor-sharp and eager to test themselves against the best.
Qualified, with rating certificate stamped
The summer of 2026 was an intense and particularly focused one for the Gitana Team and their skipper, who carried out numerous crewed test sails to speed up the development of the newest of the flying ocean-going multihulls, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
Last week, on Tuesday 1 September, Charles Caudrelier cast off aboard Gitana 18, going solo for the first time — a return to an exercise he loves and excels at. The plan was a there-and-back trip north of Ireland, allowing Charles to continue learning the ropes, literally, and get further to grips with Gitana 18. After more than 48 hours at sea and 1,200 miles on the clock, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild returned to its pontoon, with the skipper now holding the qualification required for the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe. With that passport now added to a duly stamped rating certificate, it's all systems go for the defending champion and his new mount, with fewer than two months to go before the grand départ.
Six questions for Charles Caudrelier
Q: Where do things stand, with fewer than 60 days to go before the start of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, which will be the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild's first official race outing?
"We're pretty much where we wanted to be. This is a period I really enjoy — race preparation: everything falls into place, the planets align, and it creates real momentum. We have a new boat, whose potential we can already gauge, for my favourite race... so the mood is very positive. The difference with the 2022 Route du Rhum is experience and status. Last time round, I said the weak link could be me. Today it's the opposite — I have the experience, and it's the boat that still needs more offshore miles. Gitana 18 is a young boat, hugely promising, but right in the middle of its development phase."
Q: Being on the start line of the Rhum eight months after launch is a big technical and sporting gamble?
"Yes, it's still a gamble and a huge challenge, because no one has ever managed to develop a boat like this in so little time. Generally, it takes two or three years to get a boat performing well. All the more so because with Gitana 18, we chose to do something very different from what already existed. And of course, when you innovate, you take risks. Every day we're ironing out teething problems, and it's this fine-tuning that will get us performing well in a few weeks' time."
Q: Last week you secured your qualification. What was that first solo encounter with your boat like?
"Perfect — and about time too! Sailing solo feels natural to me. It's something I've always been comfortable with. When you're solo, you're more focused, and you become more at one with your boat because you're responsible for everything. It's actually easier for me to get a feel for a boat single-handed than with a crew. Gitana 18 is easy to sail solo because everything has been very well thought out for that."
Q: Your programme differs from your rivals', with an in-water refit scheduled for the coming weeks in place of training and racing head-to-head. Can you explain that choice?
"The timing forces certain choices on us, and above all means writing our own story to match where Gitana 18 is in its life cycle. We wanted to push the sailing as hard as possible to gather as much information as we could, before setting ourselves a deadline to apply the improvements we'd identified. Winning the Route du Rhum in the Ultim class is like winning in Formula 1: you need the best car. With the experience I now have solo, I need less training. What I need most is a boat prepared as well as it can possibly be. A fast, reliable boat gives you a better chance of winning than extra training in a boat that isn't yet performing to its full potential."
Q: What will the coming technical weeks actually involve?
"We're taking out all the appendages. At Gitana, before races, we like to get all our appendages as clean as possible, because how clean they are makes a huge difference to their performance. We'll also use the time to check every system. That's essential, because everything is new and largely unprecedented, having been built specially for Gitana 18. The last three months of test sailing have been invaluable. We asked ourselves a lot of questions at the start. Now we have plenty of answers and solutions, so we're going to put them into practice."
Q: What's next on the programme for the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild before heading to Saint-Malo?
"We'll resume sailing at the end of September. After this technical stoppage, I'll have a fortnight or so of training ahead of me, and we know full well that if we manage to sail even half of those 15 days, that will be great. But it will let us test the recent modifications and optimisations. We won't be at 100% of Gitana 18's potential at the start of the Route du Rhum, but the team will have given everything to make sure we line up competitive on the start line."