Ultim Class: New and improved

In 2017, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild broke new ground as the first giant trimaran designed to fly on the high seas. It will do so again in 2023, with the announcement of the future Gitana 18.

Guillaume Verdier, Benjamin Muyl, naval architect in charge of the design team for France’s Orient Express challenge for the America’s Cup, and the Gitana stable’s design office were all involved in this new 32 m long, 23 m wide Ultim Class boat.

“With this new boat, we’re all keen to take the next step and there’s a lot of material and leads,”explains Verdier. “We’re still perhaps a third of the way through our knowledge of ocean flight. In the new project, the studies have shown that there is potential. There will be small steps and big technological breakthroughs. And it’s the arbitration of these that will create this new Maxi.

“We’re working on a boat that will have the same strengths in terms of performance, but which will make up for what we’ve identified as weak points. Sustainability is also a key criterion in our approach, and we’re looking for as many innovative solutions as possible to minimize impact and the resulting damage.

“We’ve also given more thought to integrating the sailor into the platform, as the efforts of these boats are not at all on a human scale, and it’s also our responsibility to make this accessible to the sailor.” – Full report