First flight: "Gitana 18" takes off

It was one of those dawns that you never forget. Charles Caudrelier and the Gitana team set sail from Lorient before sunrise, heading out into the Atlantic towards Belle-Île. In their luggage: the hope that the 19.5-tonne rocket named "Maxi Edmond de Rothschild" would finally foil for the first time. And indeed: a few days ago, the record-breaking hunter, also known as "Gitana 18", took off for the first time - stable, controlled and in winds of just 10 to 13 knots. A moment that the whole team had been working towards for years.

"Gitana 18" picks up speed

When you see "Gitana 18" for the first time, you can't help but wonder whether you're looking at a sailing boat or a spaceship. The 32-metre-long and 23-metre-wide trimaran was launched on 14 February 2026 and is the 28th boat in the almost 150-year history of the Gitana racing stable. Developed over 36 months, with more than 50,000 hours of research and 200,000 hours of construction, involving over 200 people - including designer luminary Guillaume Verdier - this boat is the logical next step in the evolution of offshore foiling.

In 2017, the Gitana team was already Racing stable owner Ariane de Rothschild the first to rely on constant flying with foils in offshore sailing. "Gitana 17" laid the foundation with more than 200,000 nautical miles and won the Arkea Ultim Challenge in 2024 with Skipper Charles Caudrelier. Now "Gitana 18" is set to take the principle to a new level - with the declared aim of 100 per cent flight operation. Not just on short-haul routes, as in the SailGP, but on the high seas, in all weathers.

The revolution is in the appendices

The foils are the centrepiece of the new machine - and that's where the real excitement lies. The new "Maxi Edmond de Rothschild" has Y-shaped pendulum appendages in unprecedented dimensions, inspired by the foils of the America's Cup monohulls. With a span of over 10 metres, these components are not only impressive, but also technologically groundbreaking.

With the foils, the two wings can be set independently of each other, which generates lift, reduces drift and increases the righting moment. An additional T-foil under the main hull in combination with the three U-shaped rudder blades ensures a more stable flight mode - especially in rough seas. Incidentally, these rudder blades were not milled from carbon, but from a special metal alloy that gives the system significantly more rigidity. The team remains tight-lipped about the exact composition of this alloy - it remains one of the few well-kept secrets of the mission.

Technical Director Pierre Tissier puts it in a nutshell: "With 'Gitana 17', we were the first to start the topic of constant offshore flying on foils. With 'Gitana 18', we know how to fly - but we are pushing the concepts further and want to achieve more consistent foiling. That is challenging. The simulator tells us how to do it. But it's also just a simulator."

First the right foil, then the first flight

Last week, the Gitana team installed the first hydrofoil - the starboard wing. Since then, everyone involved has been working at full speed to finalise the installation of all foils and test "Gitana 18" as quickly as possible. Then came Monday, Belle-Île, 10 to 13 knots of wind - and the giant took off.

"After a few minutes to find the right settings, we took off - and 20 minutes later our flight was stable!" reports Charles Caudrelier, visibly moved. The fact that this was achieved under such easy conditions makes the success all the more remarkable. Team Director Cyril Dardashti drew a direct comparison with its predecessor: "With 'Gitana 17', this process took almost two years. Here, we managed to find the right mode and make the initial settings for a stable flight in less than 30 minutes. That gives us enormous confidence for the future."

A mast as a revolution

In addition to the foils, the new mast concept is also a talking point. Compared to the "Gitana 17", the new wing mast is shorter and narrower - and it is a canting mast with adjustable spreaders, which can be adjusted backwards by up to 35 degrees for the first time on a boat of this size. Caudrelier simply calls it "a revolution". By adjusting the spreaders, the mast can be bent more, the sails become more bulbous or flatter as desired, and the sail shape can be adapted much more flexibly and precisely to the speed - particularly important in the transition phase to flight mode.

The deckhouse has also been fundamentally rethought: generous window areas, the positioning of which has been optimised with the help of a virtual reality program, are intended to give Caudrelier the best possible overview. Below deck, the interior is made of bare black carbon fibre at the skipper's request - less reflection from the omnipresent data displays.

Simulator, digital twin and 8 kilometres of cable

Caudrelier says he has spent around 99 per cent of his time on this project over the past year - and has spent many hours in the simulator. "It will be the first time I've gone on a new boat but already sailed it in the virtual world. It's very interesting and has really changed the design process," he says. The Gitana team used a digital twin and a specially developed autopilot - developed in collaboration with WDS - as well as 500 sensors and eight kilometres of electrical cables on board to make the vessel one of the smartest racing trimarans in the world.

Caudrelier compares "Gitana 18" to a perfected Formula 1 racing car on a scale of super companions at sea. And he is quite ambitious: "Ideally, we will be able to fly very high without ever touching the waves. We hope to be able to foil in three metre high waves and reach an average sailing speed of almost 40 knots."

Jules Verne in sight, Route du Rhum as first destination

For Caudrelier and the Gitana team, this first flight also means an important mental boost with a view to the immediate goal: in five months' time, on 1 November 2026, the starting gun for the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe will be fired in Saint-Malo. As the reigning defending champion, Caudrelier is starting with high expectations - and with the knowledge that time is short.

"The deadlines are tight; we know that, and every moment counts. To win this race, 'Gitana 17' needed two years of fine-tuning. But today we can rely on the team's experience and expertise, and on all the planning and virtual sailing with the digital twin in the simulator," says Caudrelier.

Caudrelier has big goals: "I think we can break the Jules Verne record - the 'Idec Sport' record of 40 days and 23 hours from 2017. That would also have been possible with 'Gitana 17'. But now the chances have increased further."

Second foil to follow shortly

The port foil will now be fitted to the "Gitana 18" over the next two weeks. Caudrelier can then begin more extensive offshore training sessions. The coming months will be intensive - everyone involved is aware of that. But after this first flight off Belle-Île, one thing is certain: "Gitana 18" is not just an extraordinary work of art that shows the five faces of Ariane de Rothschild and her four daughters on the almost 2000 square metres of sail area and on the hulls. Above all, she is what her team had always expected her to be - a machine that races across the water.