New Maxi Edmonds de Rothschild/Gitana 18 flies through first trials
The 32-meter (105’) super performance, foiling offshore racing trimaran Gitana 18 —which as per tradition of the owners now also assumes the mantle Maxi Edmond de Rothschild—conducted her first sails and sea trials following her February 14 launch in Lorient, Brittany, France. The initial sea trials that began on March 10 were in light airs among the islands of Groix and Belle-Île-en-Mer and focused on technical versus speed tests.
The skipper of the vessel Charles Caudrelier reported to the media that the first impressions were “very good” with the intent to pace the team as they ramp up speed performance in a controlled fashion. The disciplined approach is wise as unlike Gitana 18’s predecessor Gitana 17, the new foiling trimaran is built to achieve and sustain full “lift off” from the water with anticipated blistering top speeds of 55 knots (63 miles per hour, a common speed for cars driving on a highway).
What’s in a Name?
Gitana 18 is the latest boat of the legendary Gitana line that began with The Gitana, a steel steamboat commissioned in 1876 when steam was the emerging new technology in the age of sail. The Gitana was commissioned by Baroness Julie de Rothschild and the Gitana moniker has been synonymous with the legacy banking family ever since. According to the Edmond de Rothschild website, the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is the 28th boat in this 150-year-old line.
Gitana 18 continues the tradition and represents the dream of Baroness Ariane de Rothschild and her late husband Benjamin de Rothschild, a banker who passed away in 2021. Benjamin was an avid yachtsman like his father Edmond, hence the name Maxi Edmond de Rothschild that is applied to the newest Gitana boat. Benjamin and Ariane founded the racing program Team Gitana in 2000 with the explicit intent to develop and advance high performance, offshore trimaran racing.
Gitana 17, a legend in its own right, walked so Gitana 18 could fly. Launched in 2017, Gitana 17 is considered a “hybrid” in that it deployed foiling elements but still settled back onto her hulls after bursts of flight. The trimaran won many high-profile races in her day, including Rolex Fastnet Race, Transat Jacques Vabre, Brest Atlantiques, Route du Rhum, and the inaugural Arkea Ultim Challenge. Gitana 17’s success offshore especially has shown the world that foiling sailboats are strong enough to take on bluewater challenges—and even dominate.
Gitana 18 – The Boat
A notable influence from Ariane on Gitana 18 is the striking artwork of the hull and sails. Four proud mermaid warriors represent Ariane’s four daughters like heroines from a Homeric epic. The daughters are connected with other imagery that presents the five branches of the Rothschilds family tree. The Rothschilds seal sits prominently at the head of the mainsail. French artists Florian and Michaël Quistrebert collaborated with Palais Tokyo to create the striking visuals.
The new Gitana 18/Maxi de Edmonds Rothschild represents a reported 200,000 man hours involving over 200 experts. While the concept of sustained foiling “flight” is easy to say aloud, in practice a number of innovations needed to be brought into the Gitana 18 design to make the vision a reality.
First off are retractable Y-foils with three-dimensional trimming that Team Gitana freely admit are inspired by the flying Americas Cup monohulls like the AC75. For Gitana 18, these Y-foils span over 5 meters in length and, unlike the AC75’s that are mounted on the hull and pointed outwards, are mounted to the inside of the trimaran’s arms. They can trim up or down as needed to create lift.
Second is the series of U-shaped rudders that can trim up and down as well as three-dimensionally. The stated goal of these rudders are to resist cavitation, which is the formation and violent collapse of water vapor bubbles on propeller blades caused by extreme low pressures. Cavitation is often associated with fast spinning propellers that essentially create tiny, short-lived vacuums pockets that cause damaged when they implode. A traditional rudder on a sailboat could create such a cavitation effect too at the speeds Gitana 18 aims to run, so innovating these U-shaped rudders was imperative.
Third is the massive centerboard T-shaped foil that runs right down the center of the boat distance. But this foil is no stationary pole, it is able to cant (hinge, basically) as needed depending on the tack of the sailboat, directing the lifting power of the foil where required.
Fourth is the rig, which beyond being cutting edge includes new generation spreaders that can be adjusted to bend the mast. This seems to be a first for a sailboat of this scale and allows the skipper to morph the entire mainsail in new ways to maximize top speeds.
All told, Team Gitana anticipates a 10% to 15% gain in speed over Gitana 17 thanks to these innovations and countless other minor ones. The world of sailing is watching with great interest as a relatively new era of foiling continues to dawn. Notably, Ferrari’s 100’ Hypersail foiling monohull yacht is scheduled to launch this year as well. Will we soon see a racing duel between Ferrari’s Hypersail and the new Maxi Edmonds de Rothchild? I sure hope so.
http://www.gitana-team.com/en/
