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The Maxi Edmond de Rothschild didn't just leave the water this week. Above all, she showed a level of stability and maturity rarely seen so early in the life of a new Ultim trimaran. In 10 to 13 knots of wind, Gitana 18 found her flight mode in just a few minutes. A sequence that is already impressing ocean racing observers.
Fast take-off despite unfavorable conditions
Large trimarans generally like pressure in the sails before they tear away from the surface. However, on Monday May 25, 2026, Gitana 18 took off in a relatively light air flow off Belle Île.
For Ultim class specialists, this is probably the most striking aspect of this first outing. Flying a 32-meter platform weighing close to 20 tons in just 10 to 13 knots requires a great deal of work on the foils and on the boat's overall balance.
The starboard foil installed a few days before sailing is a real eye-catcher. With a span of over 10 meters and a Y shape inherited from America's Cup research, the appendage gives the trimaran a different silhouette.
But what struck the sailors in Lorient the most was the apparent ease with which the boat got onto her feet. In the images broadcast by Gitana Team, the trimaran seems to have quickly found a stable trim without any sudden movements.
An Ultim more tense and nervous than Gitana 17
Charles Caudrelier describes the boat as "very stiff and nervous". In the vocabulary of sailors, this describes a platform that reacts immediately to trimming and load variations. Gitana 17 had already marked a milestone in ocean flight. But Gitana 18 takes this logic of structural rigidity and aerodynamic control even further.
The reduced cockpit, streamlined surfaces and carefully crafted volumes around the platform reflect a constant quest to reduce drag. Even the traffic areas appear compact. On a modern Ultim, every bit of turbulence counts. This general tension also explains why the first flights were so eagerly awaited. A very rigid trimaran can become extremely high-performance, but also more demanding for the autopilot and the skipper.
And yet, the behavior observed during this first navigation already seems quite clean. And that's what surprises so many of our rivals.
The stability of the flight is already changing the way we look at Gitana 18
For ten years now, Ultims have known how to fly. The real issue is now elsewhere: keeping that flight for long, fast and without exhausting the skipper. Gitana Team manager Cyril Dardashti explains that the objective set in the initial studies was to achieve stable flight that could be used almost immediately.
The fact that we were able to find a coherent set-up in less than thirty minutes is already fuelling a lot of discussion in ocean racing circles. Gitana 17 took much longer to perfect.
However, the technical teams know that one outing in relatively easy seas is not enough to validate a program. The coming months will have to confirm the boat's behavior in the Atlantic, with cross swells, squalls and rapid weather transitions. But this first impression counts for a lot. In the life of an Ultim project, certain sailings immediately set a trend. And Gitana 18 has clearly made her entrance.
The trimaran also impresses with the sheer number of on-board systems. The boat has around 500 sensors and nearly 8 km of electrical cables. The autopilot developed with WDS is one of the key elements of the project. At these speeds, steering an Ultim means supervising systems capable of constantly correcting trim and trajectory.
Electric steering is another new feature on Gitana 18. These technologies bring the Ultim closer and closer to America's Cup prototypes, or even to certain aeronautical logics. For naval architects and engineers, Gitana 18 is already becoming a full-scale laboratory for offshore flight.
The Route du Rhum 2026 is already approaching
But the schedule remains tight. The Route du Rhum 2026 will set off from Saint Malo on November 1, 2026.
The port foil is still to be installed over the next few days. Then come the long training runs and the first encounters with rougher seas. Charles Caudrelier himself points out that Gitana 17 required almost two years of fine-tuning before she could fully express her potential.
But in Lorient, many already recognize that these first flights are changing the perception of the project. For beyond the figures and spectacular images, Gitana 18 above all gives the impression of a boat born several steps ahead of its development phase.
