I first met Ariane de Rothschild—the CEO of Edmond de RothschildGroup—in Saint-Tropez.
Yes, I know how snobby and name droppy that sentence sounds. But please bear with me. I’m grateful she and I met before the newest and largest Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (a 104-foot, fully foiling sailing trimaran) was launched, because I got to really see just how passionate and committed she is to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on the water...before the Gitana Team’s top secret oceangoing rocketship literally sucked all the air out of the offshore sailing world when it was unveiled in December.
I mean it. I literally gasped at my home computer when I saw all the Gitana team members in front of such a large and technologically advanced trimaran emerging from its build shed. And seeing the spark in her eyes in Saint-Tropez as she described her genuine passion for the Gitana team and their massive trimaran when it was still "top secret" was, simply put, cool. I can't say it any better than that.
And frankly, even then I could tell how much care, attention, and resources she and the whole Gitana Team poured into the newest and biggest Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. "Within my family, we've always enjoyed a passion for competition, performance, and 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," she said at the launch.
Turns out the project began way back in 2017 when the Gitana Team became committed to designing and building a large offshore multihull that would be capable of literally flying, with all three hulls "flying" above the water completely supported by razor sharp hydrofoils in a wide variety of conditions, almost the entire time around the world. No other raceboat has ever been able to "fly" that much offshore. But that's about to change.
With this new boat, the Gitana Team, its design office, and Team Verdier have created an entirely new concept, especially the foils that were inspired by America's Cup foils and developed after many months of brainstorming, building, and testing. The Y-foils are massive and are designed to generate considerable lift, reduce speed-sucking drag, and permit numerous trimming options to optimize flight on every point of sail in all conditions.
On paper, the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild looks to be 10 to 15% faster than any other boat of its kind, and lots of offshore sailing speed records are in jeopardy.
Stay tuned.
