A French crew of ten made sailing history traveling 14,500 miles from New York to San Francisco on February 28th, 2008. The boat was captained by Lionel Lemonchois and went by way of Cape Horn. The weather was rough at Cape Horn and the vessel had to take shelter for 5 days.

"Gitana 13" is a 110 foot Catamaran whose speed can reach up to 43 knots. They hit light winds on the last leg entering the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. Even in light winds they passed under the Golden Gate Bridge at 10 to 14 knots.

The finish line is between Alcatraz Lighthouse and Coit Tower. The oldest record of this route was the famous passage of the "Flying Cloud" in 1854 with the time of 89 days and 8 hours. The passage was dubbed "Route D'Or" for the California Gold Rush. In 1998 "Aquitainne Innovations", another French vessel, broke that record making the time of 57 days and 3 hours.

The "Gitana 13" will makes its next stop in Tokyo on its way around the world.

Photoboat provided by Captain Paul Dines SF BAY ADVENTURES

Music by Bjorne Lynne

Photography by Sandra Cannon

Produced by SF BAY IMAGES, SFBAYIMAGES.com

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