Maxi Edmond de Rothschild launched, opening a new chapter in flying Ultim design

After more than two years in build, Gitana 18, the 32-metre Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has been launched, marking the culmination of an ambitious construction programme and the start of a new chapter for the Gitana Team.

In early December, Ariane de Rothschild unveiled the radical architectural concept of this pioneering flying Ultim trimaran in spectacular fashion. On Saturday 14 February, that vision became reality.

As if on cue, the persistent Breton rain and wind eased for a few precious hours, allowing the five-arrow team to complete the complex launch sequence. Sailing enthusiasts and offshore racing followers turned out in force at Lorient La Base to witness the arrival of the first yacht of the new generation of fully flying Ultim trimarans.

A public and emotional milestone

Back in December, Gitana 18 had been revealed, in the presence of her owners, after 26 months of development conducted in near total confidentiality. Since January 2024, this audacious 32-metre trimaran had taken shape out of sight.

On Saturday, however, Gitana 18 emerged into the open, carefully manoeuvred between the buildings of Lorient La Base before being launched mid-afternoon.

The date had been chosen deliberately. The team was keen for the operation to take place on a Saturday to allow as many supporters as possible to share the moment. But the weather still needed to cooperate. Launching a 32-metre by 23-metre platform — followed by stepping a mast over 36 metres tall — leaves little room for error.

“Everything aligned today,” said skipper Charles Caudrelier at the end of the operation. “The weather window was almost unexpected, but it allowed us to launch the platform and step the mast straight afterwards. It all went perfectly!”

The team benefited from moderate to light winds — rare in recent weeks as successive Atlantic depressions have swept across Brittany.

Testing and commissioning

Now moored at her home pontoon in Lorient, Gitana 18, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild will remain alongside for a few more days before casting off for her first sea trials off the Breton coast.

Given the yacht’s architecture and the scale of the highly innovative appendages, several components must be fitted once the yacht is afloat. When the hangar doors opened on launch morning, only the float rudders were in place. Their distinctive U-shaped geometry immediately caught the eye and prompted questions from onlookers.

They will soon be joined by the central rudder — which is retractable — and the daggerboard.

Positioned in the centre of the main hull and fitted with a three-metre-span metal lifting plane, the daggerboard was deliberately kept as a final surprise for launch day. Like the keel of an IMOCA monohull, it is designed to pivot while remaining fixed in height — an innovative solution that requires it to be installed once the yacht is in the water. 

The Y-shaped pendulum foils, each featuring a wing of more than five metres in span, will be installed later, once the initial testing phase has been completed. From next week, the yacht will undergo the standard static tests carried out on all new builds as they leave the yard.

The story is only just beginning. For Charles Caudrelier and the Gitana Team, the months ahead will be dedicated to the delicate process of fine-tuning a demanding and highly sophisticated prototype. The team has until 1 November – eight months – to be race-ready and in Saint-Malo to defend the team’s title at the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe.

Owner and team reactions

Ariane de Rothschild
CEO, Edmond de Rothschild — Owner of the Gitana fleet
“With the launch of Gitana 18, a new chapter opens in the Gitana lineage. For 150 years, my family has expressed its passion for the sea and sailing performance through these legendary yachts, always with a spirit of innovation. The new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is the embodiment of that vision. It is bold in its architectural concept and in its artistic design, created by Florian and Michaël Quistrebert. I would like to thank the team for the remarkable work accomplished over more than three years, and I look forward with great anticipation to seeing this new giant take flight.”

Cyril Dardashti
Managing Director, Gitana
“It is a significant day for all of us — a major milestone in the project and in the collective adventure that Gitana 18 represents. The work is only just beginning, but tonight the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is moored at her pontoon.

Gitana 18 is an incredible maxi-trimaran – one with great systems complexity. For months, the team has worked relentlessly, demonstrating unwavering commitment in taking on the major challenge ahead of us. I would like to thank them sincerely for their outstanding work.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge our owner, Ariane de Rothschild, and her daughters, who place their trust in us and allow us every day to pursue our ambitions and to innovate with boldness. We all share this culture of innovation and drive for performance — it is a constant source of motivation.”

Charles Caudrelier
Skipper, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
“It is an immense pleasure to see the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild afloat — it represents three years of work. We are entering a new phase in the life of this yacht and will finally discover what it has in store for us on the water.

These 26 months of construction have been an intense and rewarding period, and I feel fortunate to have experienced it. Building a maxi like Gitana 18 was already a major technological and human challenge, and an equally important one now awaits us in the development phase.

We are not starting from a blank page, thanks to the experience gained with Gitana 17, but with Gitana 18 we are stepping into another dimension. Everything in the systems that have been conceived is new. The development phase will be demanding, as the timeframe is short ahead of our key objective of the season, the Route du Rhum. I hope we can quickly make the yacht as performant as it is beautiful!”

Gitana 18: Innovation in the spotlight

Like her predecessor, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has been designed to push the boundaries of offshore performance. The ambition is clear: to move from hybrid flight to fully foiling sailing, and to lead the emergence of a new generation of even faster, more powerful ocean-racing trimarans.

Achieving this required bold thinking and venturing into unexplored territory — developing new concepts and validating them through extensive testing. The Gitana 18 appendages alone mark a major step change.

Retractable Y-shaped foils, adjustable in three dimensions. Inspired by the foiling monohulls of the America’s Cup, these Y-shaped foils feature wings spanning more than five metres. They are designed to deliver significant lift, increased power and extensive fine-tuning, enabling optimised flight across all points of sail and in a wide range of conditions.

Revolutionary rudders. The distinctive U-shaped geometry has been specifically developed to resist cavitation at very high speeds.

A radically rethought central daggerboard. The central daggerboard, positioned in the main hull and equipped with a large-span metal lifting plane, marks a clear departure from anything previously designed on this type of yacht. It will pivot while remaining fixed in height, in a configuration comparable to the keel of a monohull.

Advanced rig architecture. The rig also stands out through the use of dynamically adjustable spreaders, allowing the mast to be curved under load to modify mainsail power while sailing — unprecedented at this scale.

Structural integration has been taken a step further, with the cockpit and coachroof forming an integral part of the central hull, delivering maximum stiffness — a design philosophy and execution that are unmistakably Gitana.

Based on thousands of simulator runs, the numbers are compelling: a projected speed gain of 10 to 15%. The next phase now begins — learning to sail, refine and ultimately master this extraordinary flying machine in real-world offshore conditions.

Precision engineering in the service of offshore flight

From initial concept to final build, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is the result of collective intelligence and expertise. Hundreds of specialists contributed to the creation of this exceptional offshore racing trimaran.

Key figures

200,000 hours of construction
50,000 hours of R&D
80% of the platform manufactured in an autoclave
36 months from concept to completion
More than 200 people involved in the Gitana 18 project

Technical Specifications — Maxi Edmond de Rothschild

Length: 32 metres
Beam: 23 metres
Nets: 170 m²
Area of aerodynamic covers: 73 m²
Cockpit floor surface area for manouvering: 9 m²
Living area (floor surface area): 4.8 m²
Displacement: 19.5 tonnes
Number of appendages: 6
Height of float rudders: 4 metres
Foils span area: 10.4 metres
Foil bulb length: 2.4 metres
Sail area upwind: 450 m²
Sail area downwind: 630 m²
Aerial draft: 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.