Lionel Lemonchois and his 10 crew aboard the maxi-catamaran Gitana 13 have become the new holders of the Tea Route record with a time of 41 days 21 hours 26 minutes 34 seconds. Leaving Hong Kong on 14th August 2008, the sailors of Gitana Team covered the 15,312 miles to London at an average speed of 15.23 knots.

Their faces marked by the six weeks at sea, the ten sailors of Gitana Team couldn’t hide their delight on arriving in London in the early hours! The long climb to the infamous Tower Bridge was rightly appreciated by everyone concerned.

Lionel Lemonchois and his men have made it back to the old continent enriched by stories and images, not to mention a host of great performances… Seven out of seven record attempts were transformed into outright records!

Lionel Lemonchois, shared his initial thoughts with us during his first few minutes ashore: “This project was a real challenge for me! More familiar to racing single-handed, I was looking forward to driving a crew like that of Gitana 13. The seven records gleaned are clearly a great satisfaction but I am particularly proud of the human success story that has come about as a result of this long record campaign. We relished the idea of bringing some maritime routes, which have a real historic value, back into favour. I hope that the times set throughout the year will inspire others to revive these routes which are positively brimming with history.”