Some records were made to stand a very, very long time. Flying Cloud’s 89-day New York to San Francisco Gold Rush record stood for more than 134 years, from 1854 to 1989. On Thursday, February 28, it was smashed by the 110-ft catamaran Gitana 13, and although the record may not stand for 130 years, it will be hard to beat.

Gitana 13 completed ‘La Route de l’Or’ in just 43 days, 38 minutes, crushing Yves Parlier’s 1998 57-day record by two whole weeks! Aboard Parlier’s PRB for that 10-year old record, Frenchman Lionel Lemonchois would this time sail as skipper aboard Gitana 13.

Their best day of the run was 620 miles, top speed hit 40.3 knots, with a highest sustained speed 30 knots. When asked if there was anything he would change, Lemonchois replied, “We wouldn’t change anything to do better. Same preparation, same crew, same routing, but hope for better conditions around Cape Horn.”

Navigator Dominic Vittet commented, “When we left New York we were doing 500 miles per day, and we were thinking we could do this in 30 days. When we hit the South Atlantic we were down to 480 miles per day day, and we were still thinking, okay, this isn’t so bad, this boat is quick. But once we got around the Horn the weather was very different. You can’t go the way you want to, you tack, you jibe, but you can never go the direct route. Every 300 miles you’re in a different system. It’s very complex.”

When asked what was their most difficult day, Vittet replied, “On the last day we were slamming upwind in 13 knots of wind. It’s impossible to sleep, eat, you can’t do anything. We don’t like upwind. We just wanted to finish.”

Record-setting multihull sailor Peter Hogg of Mill Valley talked about the course. “The record they’re breaking is Parlier’s in what is now a 10-year old Open 60, but still this is not a good course for a multihull. A lot of people have attempted the record but most failed. It wasn’t till Thursday’s Child broke Flying Cloud’s time that interest picked up, but still it doesn’t get attempted very often. The reason is the difficulty of the course - just getting around the Horn. Backwards is hard enough, but also the complex weather patterns in the Pacific would frustrate even the best navigators.”

Be sure to check out our movie of the finish and news briefing. See www.gitana-team.com/en/gitana10/homepage.asp for Gitana’s official website. For a concise and entertaining history of the Gold Rush record, see Kimball Livingston’s blog at http://sailmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/01/flying-and-crashing-around-cape-horn.html. Up next for Gitana 13, an attempt on the San Francisco to Yokohama, Japan, record, held for the past two years by Olivier de Kersauson’s trimaran Geronimo.