Pierre Tissier : “Route du Rhum 2026 : keeping a cool head above all”

With just over a month to go before the start of the 2026 Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, Gitana 18 is preparing for its first major offshore challenge. Technical Director of Gitana Team, Pierre Tissier looks back at the pre-race refit currently underway on the foiler’s appendages, his close relationship with skipper Charles Caudrelier, and the lessons the team hopes to learn from its first head-to-head confrontation with the rest of the Ultim fleet.

Pierre Tissier, can you tell us how you came to Lorient?

I’m originally from the south of France, from Montpellier. I arrived in Lorient in 1999 for the 6e Sens project, part of the Bouygues Telecom Transiciel America’s Cup challenge for Auckland 2000 in New Zealand. When I arrived, there was nothing in Lorient or at the base. The French Navy had just left and the submarine base had recently become public property. At the time, the atmosphere was austere, rather bleak. We trained there for three months before heading to New Zealand. I remember thinking that I would never set foot in Lorient again. And yet I came back and ended up building my life here. I worked for several teams, including Groupama and Groupe Bel, and watched the base grow into a global sailing hub. It’s extraordinary. Today, I’ve spent more of my life in Brittany than in my native south of France. Lorient is like a magnet and a unique place for the sailing community. It brings together so many different boats and disciplines: 40-footers, Figaros, Minis, Ultims, IMOCA and sailing more broadly. The Ocean Race Atlantic arrived here recently. It brought together Ultims, a Viking longship and people on kitefoils. It was like a snapshot of sailing history unfolding in just a few moments.

How do you feel as a team’s Technical Director with just a few weeks to go before the start of the Route du Rhum?

This will be my sixth Route du Rhum: three with Groupama and my third here with Gitana. I feel good. Right now, for us, it’s the race before the race. Every day counts and the countdown is now well underway. It will stop once we hand the boat over to Charles (Caudrelier) and he is on the starting line. We’re in the middle of the pre-race refit, and we prepared well in advance so that we could work efficiently: what would normally take us three months will be done here in two to three weeks. It’s essential because the boat changes dramatically depending on the condition of the appendages, which need to be perfect. We’re also ironing out a few minor issues that are inherent to the young age of Gitana 18. We’re checking the appendage systems, hydraulics, fibre optics, positioners and their mechanical components. They will be subjected to intense loads during the race. We’re taking this opportunity to prepare and improve them. On my side, I need to remain calm and anticipate as much as possible so that this sense of calm spreads throughout the team. I’m excited too. I’m not in a hurry, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how the boat performs alongside the competition.

This transatlantic race will be Gitana 18’s first major test. What feeling dominates? Apprehension, or excitement at the prospect of seeing it compete against the rest of the fleet?

There’s definitely excitement. We’re eager to measure her potential because she hasn’t really faced anyone else before this Route du Rhum. It will be an extremely intense moment for everyone: the technical team, the wider team and Charles as well. At the moment, he has a good feel for the boat in certain phases, and less so in others. We’re still being cautious, though. There’s an element of the unknown, and that’s what makes it exciting.

What are the main lessons you hope to learn throughout the 2026 Route du Rhum?

What will be particularly interesting is reliability. The boat will never have sailed for this long before. When the guys are racing, they push their boat to 100% of the potential and don’t try to spare the boat. If one of them is doing 45 knots, the others will do everything they can to match that. Every dial is turned up to the maximum, but in 3–4 metre waves. That level of competition will reveal the reliability limits of Gitana 18. When we get back, we’ll carry out structural checks to assess the boat’s overall condition and look at how the various components have aged. We’ll also analyse the settings — pumps, valve openings and so on — because there’s a lot of hydraulics on board. The appendages can move at different speeds, so depending on Charles’s feedback, we’ll adapt all of that when he returns, following a debrief of his manoeuvres. There are things he will only discover when he tacks or gybes alongside the competition. Then there are the performance aspects, namely improvements in stability or speed on certain points of sail.