The maxi-catamaranGitana 13has less than 1, 000 miles to go to the finish line under San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge. The ten crew on board the 110-foot catamaran are 40 days into their attempt on the Route d’Or record – a fully crewed non-stop trip from New York to San Francisco.

For over three days, the maxi-catamaran has benefited from a NE’ly air flow of around fifteen knots, allowing them to climb northwards with the ridge of high pressure. These stable conditions associated with relatively calm seas have enabled Lionel Lemonchois and his men to rack up some fine average speeds throughout the weekend. On a NW’ly heading, the crew are intending to put a tack in later this week to lay San Francisco. Skipper Lionel Lemonchois commented, “We are still on starboard tack and will be for another two days. According to the latest forecasts we’ll have at least one tack to perform 24 or 36 hours before our arrival, as we are going to stumble across the edge of the zone of high pressure.

If all goes to plan,Gitana 13is expected to finish sometime on Thursday – which will mean that the crew will break the current record, which stands at 57 days, by almost two weeks.

Keep up with their latest position on the Gitana website.