The sharing of an emotionally charged moment

December finally brought with it the grand unveiling of Gitana 18 in the presence of her owners, followed by a revelatory soirée worthy of this new 32-metre flying maxi-trimaran. It was a rare and eagerly anticipated moment since the giant with the bold design had remained under wraps from the time she was first imagined and designed back in January 2024.

This Saturday, revealed to one and all, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild made her way through Lorient La Base’s buildings and into the light and was finally launched mid-afternoon today. All Gitana’s teams were keen for this technical operation to take place on a Saturday so that as many enthusiasts as possible had the opportunity to witness this epic occasion. 14 February had long been mooted as the launch date, but the weather conditions still had to come together on the day. Indeed, the main objective of the day was to perform what is always an amazing operation to launch a platform spanning 32 metres long and 23 metres wide, followed by the craning of a mast measuring in excess of 36 metres.  

“The stars aligned today and everything ran like clockwork! The weather window was a little unexpected but it enabled us to launch the platform and then immediately step the mast,”enthused the delighted skipper at the end of the day. Charles Caudrelier and Gitana’s technical team then had the chance to enjoy a few hours of calm conditions under a Breton sky peppered with cloud but above all brushed by a medium to light breeze, which has been rather rare in recent weeks amidst the succession of low-pressure systems relentlessly rolling around north-west Brittany!

Time for testing and fine-tuning

Gitana 18 is now alongside in her port of registry and, in a few days, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild will cast off and put in her first tacks offshore of Lorient.

Indeed, the boat’s architecture and the sheer scale of Gitana 18’s highly innovative and unconventional appendages mean that the technical team can only install certain elements once the Maxi is in the water. For this reason, solely the float rudders were visible as the doors to the shed were swung open this morning. Even so, these uniquely styled U-shaped appendages were eye-catching and intriguing to say the least. They will soon be joined by the central kick-up rudder and centreboard.

With regards to this major appendage in the middle of the central hull, which features a 3-metre metal skate wing, Gitana Team opted to reserve one last surprise for the launch. Like the keel of an IMOCA monohull, the centreboard on the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild will cant whilst being fixed at the top. This very innovative new feature naturally means that it too can only be fitted once the boat is in the water.

As for the retractable Y-shaped foils with a wing span of over 5 metres, these will be fitted once the initial test phase is complete. As early as next week, the static tests, which every new boat must undergo upon exiting the build shed, will be performed dockside. 

And so the story begins. Now, a lengthy work-up phase awaits Charles Caudrelier and the members of Gitana Team as they launch into the delicate fine-tuning of a sophisticated and demanding prototype. The aim is a steady ramping up over the next eight months as the team sets its sights on its primary objective: to be in the starting blocks on 1 November in St Malo to defend the team’s title in the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe. 

Ariane de Rothschild, CEO Edmond de Rothschild and owner of the Gitanas: 
“The launch of Gitana 18 is the start of a new chapter in the Gitana legacy. For the past 150 years, through these legendary boats, my family has been sharing its passion for the sea and sailing performance whilst cultivating innovation. The new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is an expression of this vision. Both her architectural concept and her design created by Florian and Michaël Quistrebert blaze a bold trail. Thank you to the teams for their fantastic work over the past three years. I look forward to seeing this new giant take flight.”

Cyril Dardashti, General Manager Gitana:
“It’s a big day for all of us and a very significant step forward in the project and in the collective adventure that is Gitana 18! The work has only just begun but the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is alongside the pontoon this evening. Gitana 18 is an incredible maxi-trimaran and her systems are incredibly complex. The team has been working relentlessly for months and has demonstrated remarkable commitment in order to pull off this huge project that stands before us today. I am sincerely grateful to them for their outstanding work.
Finally, I would like to spare a thought for our owner, Ariane de Rothschild, and her daughters, who have placed their trust in us and enabled us to realise our dreams and dare to approach creation from a fresh perspective, with boldness. We all wholeheartedly share this culture for innovation and this passion for performance, which drives us forward on a daily basis.”

Charles Caudrelier, skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild: 
“It’s a huge pleasure to see the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild afloat in what is the culmination of three years’ work. Today a new chapter of this boat’s life begins and we’re finally going to get the chance to discover what she has in store for us on the water. On a personal level, the past 26-month construction phase has been both valuable and exciting and I’m thrilled and grateful to have had the opportunity to have been a part of it. Building a Maxi like Gitana 18 was a huge technological and human challenge and now we must step up to what is an equally important challenge, namely the fine-tuning. Thanks to all the experience we gained on Gitana 17, we are not having to start from a clean slate, but we are switching over to a whole new dimension with Gitana 18. All the systems we’ve designed are new. The fine-tuning will be an intense process as we have a limited amount of time before our primary objective of the season, namely the Route du Rhum. I hope that we’ll be able to get her performing as wonderfully as she is beautiful!”

GITANA 18’s innovations under the microscope

Like her predecessor, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild aims to break new ground, this time by switching from hybrid mode to 100% flight, as well as be at the forefront of a new generation of large ever more high-performance oceanic trimarans. To do this, it was vital to brave the still uncharted territory, create new concepts and test innovative solutions. Gitana 18’s appendages mark a spectacular departure in a whole host of domains. 

Retractable Y-foils and three-dimensional trimming
Inspired by the appendages on the flying monohulls of the America’s Cup, these Y-foils equipped with a wing spanning over 5 metres have been designed to generate considerable lift, boost power and permit a number of different trimming options in order to optimise flight on every point of sail, in all manner of conditions.

Revolutionary rudders, whose U-shaped geometry is geared to withstand cavitation.

The centreboard on the central hull, together with its large-scale metal lifting surface, are a departure from everything that has previously been designed on this type of boat. Indeed, the latter will cant whilst being attached at the top like a monohull keel. 

The rig on the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild also stands out through the presence of spreaders whose dynamic forces can be adjusted, enabling the mast to bend to modify the power of the mainsail whilst sailing: a world first on this scale.

The cockpit and the coachroof have been structurally integrated with the central hull to give it the maximum stiffness: a concept and implementation designed by Gitana.

On paper, based on thousands of tests carried out in a simulator, the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild ticks all the boxes with a 10 to 15% gain in speed expected. Now, all that remains is to get to grips with and tame this otherworldly creature in real-world conditions.

A veritable work of art at the service of offshore flight

From its design to its construction, the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is the fruit of a group’s intelligence and expertise. Hundreds of specialists have been brought in to bring this sensational giant offshore racing trimaran to life.

- 200,000 hours of construction
- 50,000 hours of study
- 80% of the platform manufactured in an autoclave
- 36-month gestation
- more than 200 people involved in the Gitana 18 project

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild factsheet

- Length: 32 metres
- Beam: 23 metres
- Trampolines: 170 m²
- Area of aerodynamic fairings: 73 m²
- Surface area of cockpit for manoeuvring: 9 m²
- Living area (surface area of sole): 4.8 m²
- Displacement: 19.5 tonnes
- Number of appendages: 6
- Height of float rudders: 4 metres
- Span of foils: 10.4 metres
- Foil bulb length: 2.4 metres
- Sail area upwind: 450 m²
- Sail area downwind: 630 m²
- Air draught: 38.4 m
- Electrical cables: 8 km
- Number of sensors: 500
- Total decorated surface (hulls and sails): 2,000 m²

The new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is the twenty‑eighth boat in this legendary maritime saga, which will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in a few weeks.