Gitana 13 Crosses Equator

This morning, at 7:24 GMT — less than a week after leaving New York —  the 110-ft catamaran Gitana 13 crossed the Equator. That’s about 3,200 miles in 6.5 days, an average of just under 500 miles a day. In case you haven’t heard yet, G-13 and her 10-man crew are trying to break the sailing record from New York to San Francisco.

But the ebullient mood aboard the big French cat this morning was not for the Equator, but rather for their quick traverse of the Doldrums north (and by now, hopefully south) of it. As every ocean racer knows, the trick here is to find the narrow ‘off ramp’ from the northern-hemisphere trades to the southern-hemisphere trades where you keep wind — and keep moving. Pick the wrong lane and you might be becalmed for days.

As with every other facet of this program, Gitana’s weather routers are excellent. They got her through the northern portion with barely a hiccup. Although slowed from 25 knots to just 8-12, she traversed the area and crossed the Equator in fine style. “But the real exit is 1 degree (60 miles) south,” wrote crewman Nicolas Raynaud in the latest update. He also indicated it was “still a perfect tradewind sky” which also boded well for a quick escape.

Of course, that latest report was posted almost 12 hours before this was written. By the time you read this, they should have popped out the other side and be well into the southern trades, once again blasting along at 25 knots or better past the hip of South America and on-schedule to arrive under the Golden Gate on or about February 20.

For more, including video updates from on board, log onto www.gitana-team.com/en.