A moment of joy and deep pride for Ariane de Rothschild and all the members of the five-arrow racing stable, who have dared to explore ever further to produce a bold and assertive architectural concept.
The distinguished outline and the sleek lines of this 32-metre giant, adorned with revolutionary appendages, are further enhanced by her monumental livery designed by Florian and Michaël Quistrebert, in collaboration with the Palais de Tokyo.
Marrying intelligence, art, engineering and cutting-edge technology, this new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is a fitting addition to the legendary Gitana lineage and is paving a new way forward for a whole new generation of flying offshore multihulls.
"A passion for performance and technological disruption”
Back in 2017, Ariane de Rothschild and Gitana Team were the first to believe that offshore flight was the future of offshore racing. Driven by this conviction, they created and designed the first large oceanic multihull capable of flying in the open ocean.
Eight years later, armed with the experience of covering over 200,000 nautical miles on all the oceans of the globe aboard Gitana 17, and reinforced in its vision by a plethora of successes on the racing circuit - Transat Jacques Vabre, Route du Rhum, Arkea Ultim Challenge – the five-arrow racing stable has presented its latest creation.
The new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is the twenty-eighth boat in Gitana’s legendary maritime saga, which is about to celebrate its 150th anniversary in a matter of weeks.
The culture of innovation and boldness is intrinsically linked to the history of the Gitanas, and to the philosophy of its owners, embodied today by Ariane de Rothschild and her daughters. It involves planning projects over time and accepting a degree of risk.
“Within my family, we’ve always enjoyed a passion for competition, performance and also one of technological disruption. It’s about being disruptive, knowing how to take risks, gauging them and managing them. This is fully in line with our philosophy,” admits Ariane de Rothschild.
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 per cent 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
“She’s an extraordinary trimaran, a blend of art and technology. We’ve challenged ourselves right across the board. The result is bold”, announces Cyril Dardashti, general manager of Gitana Team.
With this new boat, the five-arrow team, its design office and Team Verdier, have committed to this bold, creative journey. They have brought to life a giant with a whole new look: a polymorphic creature, which provides an opportunity to adjust, deploy and retract a plethora of mobile elements; a colossal Gerris adorned with appendages whose forms and functions are as spectacular as they are unprecedented.
Indeed, the appendages of the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild mark a spectacular departure in a whole host of domains. They are the fruit of many months of brainstorming, creation and testing to come up with a range of totally unique geometries, systems and trimming possibilities.
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 with a U-shaped geometry geared to withstand cavitation.
The centreboard on the central hull, together with its large-scale lifting surface, are a departure from everything that has previously been designed on this type of boat.
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 are structurally integral to the central hull to give it the maximum stiffness: a Gitana concept and implementation.
Elements of Gitana 18’s design are the subject of a patent application.
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.
“With this new boat, we hope to achieve as close to perfect flight as possible. Ideally, we’ll be able to fly very high without ever touching the waves. We hope to be able to fly in 3-metre waves and reach an average sailing speed bordering on 40 knots”, explains Charles Caudrelier, the skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
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.
The degree of care and precision given to every link in the chain, at every stage of production, has been crucial in order to respond to the boat’s extreme level of sophistication.
Gitana 18 constitutes dozens of moving parts, parts with unexpected geometries, novel attachment systems, forty-four rams, kilometres of electric cables and an abundance of electronics.
“These systems are reminiscent of the ones you find in F1 or aerospace,” admits Pierre Tissier. “Mechatronics – a combination of mechanical/hydraulic/electronic systems -, is witnessing a sea change in terms of what we know today,” acknowledges Sébastien Sainson, director of Gitana’s design office.
Gitana 18 by the numbers:
- 200,000 hours of construction
- 50,000 hours of study
- 80 per cent of the platform manufactured in an autoclave
- 36-month gestation
- +200 people involved in the Gitana 18 project
