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  • Gitana 18
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    • Retractable Y-shaped foils, adjustable in three dimensions

    Inspired by the appendages of the America's Cup foiling monohulls, these Y-shaped foils have a wingspan of over 5 metres. They are designed to generate powerful lift, increase power and offer a wide range of adjustments to optimise flight at every point of sail and in all conditions. Beyond their impressive size, these foils feature many unique innovations.

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    Revolutionary U-shaped rudders

    These are probably the most visually striking innovations on the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. To fly high above rough seas while maintaining control, the team wanted very long rudders that would remain in contact with the water. The challenge is that longer rudders tend to flex under load, severely affecting steering and the efficiency of their lifting surfaces. A new geometry was needed to give these appendages maximum stiffness, resist cavitation and ultimately improve control of the boat and make better use of its power. The result is a set of U-shaped rudders over 4 metres long, a metre longer than those on Gitana 17. Their shape, reminiscent of a tripod or an inverted π, is only the visible part of what makes them so distinctive.

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    A daggerboard optimised to stabilise the boat and limit cavitation

    With its wide span, the daggerboard resembles an aircraft tail assembly, with two adjustable flaps: one on the vertical section and the other on the horizontal section, the distinctive “manta-ray wing”. On Gitana 18, the innovation is to position this wing behind the vertical part of the appendage, rather than directly beneath it, to minimise flow disturbance and cavitation.

    Gitana 18’s daggerboard

    Rig: adjustable spreaders to control mainsail power while sailing

    Gitana 18’s mast is 1.50 metres taller than its predecessor’s. The boom is also shorter, creating a more slender sail plan. The major innovation is a set of spreaders that can be adjusted while sailing to bend the mast fore and aft. Actuated by hydraulic rams, these spreaders can pivot through 35 degrees to adjust the bend in the middle of the mast. This unprecedented system allows the sailor to control mainsail power: adding depth in light winds to take off sooner, or flattening the sail to reduce power at high speed or in strong winds. Adjusting the depth, and therefore the power, of the mainsail can also save a solo sailor time and energy by reducing the need for risky manoeuvres or headsail changes.

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    Central hull:
    an integrated, structural coachroof

    The naval architects and Gitana design team wanted an exceptionally stiff, structurally robust platform. This applies both to the floats, which must withstand heavy loads from the foils and rudders, and to the central hull, which is subject to torsion. The enclosed coachroof is integrated into the hull and contributes to its structural strength. Inside, the cockpit brings all sail-handling controls together, with ergonomics shaped by many hours of design and development. The coachroof also stands out for the number and size of its windows. This configuration meets the visibility requirements of the Ultim class rules and gives sailors the best possible view to keep a visual watch.

    Gitana 18’s coachroof

    14.09.2015

    Qualified!.

    Launched on 7 August 2005 in Vannes, south-west Brittany, it has taken two months and nine days for the Gitana Team to make the brand new Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild reliable and get a true feel for her prior to her first official competition. Indeed, she will take the start of the 12th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre on 25 October in Le Havre…

    par Gitana

    Launched on 7 August 2005 in Vannes, south-west Brittany, it has taken two months and nine days for the Gitana Team to make the brand new Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild reliable and get a true feel for her prior to her first official competition. Indeed, she will take the start of the 12th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre on 25 October in Le Havre. Suffice to say that with such a tight schedule and a machine as fabulous as she is complicated to fine-tune, every day counts and every sea trial is another leap forward for Sébastien Josse and his co-skipper in the Transat, Charles Caudrelier. Last week, the Edmond de Rothschild pairing made the most of the favourable weather conditions to head out west for a few days, with their eyes on a twofold objective: the first involved getting in some training and the second was about sailing the relevant distance required by the Transat Jacques Vabre’s Race Management to qualify for the race. With this precious entry ticket safely in their clutches, the two sailors will be able to attend the event’s press conference in Paris tomorrow.
    Qualifier in the bag

    On Wednesday 9 September, the Mono60 fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild left her port of registry in Lorient for her first long session offshore. During this sea trial of nearly 72 hours, the objective was twofold for Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier: to train and to qualify!

    The skipper of Edmond de Rothschild is a diligent and methodical sailor, who has always much preferred racking up the miles to the theoretical studies. “Imoca is a bit like riding a bicycle, once learned you never really forget it, but we’re clearly in a discovery phase with the boat and there’s still a long way to go before we can master all her subtleties. The Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild is a latest generation boat, which has a complicated set of on-board systems that call for a modicum of quality time spent on the fine-tuning. We have to get our bearings on this new boat and Charles and I are having to find our reflex actions as a couple,” Sébastien Josse explains. “To pull that off, we need to get out on the water again and again and thanks to the support of a great team, who are proving to be as readily adaptable as usual, we’re lucky to be in a position to optimise our training time.”

    Although the sailors of Gitana Team are the event’s reigning multihull champions following their Multi70 Edmond de Rothschild campaign in 2013, an 800-mile qualifier was still a necessary step in their bid to take the start of this year’s famous double-handed transatlantic race. Sébastien Josse gives us the low-down on the conditions they encountered during this highly educational outing: “By setting sail on Wednesday afternoon, we benefited from some very varied conditions, ranging from calm to medium breeze at the start and culminating with strong wind. In this way, we were able to make use of the boat’s entire sail wardrobe and validate the sails. The aim was to seek out a front over to the west. The first 24 hours were fairly light, with a south-easterly breeze of 0 to 10 knots, then we began to come under the influence of the front. The strongest wind came once the front rolled through with an average of 30 knots, gusting to 37-38 knots. We made it back home with this same air flow so our sea trial proved highly beneficial and rewarding!”

    This so-called qualifier is something that is required by the event’s Race Management. It is a requirement in the regulations prior to every major offshore race, with the aim of validating both the boat and the duos’ ability to helm their steed.

    Given the poor weather conditions expected in Brittany throughout the coming week, Gitana Team has opted to make the most of this neutral weather window to treat their most recent addition to the Gitana fleet to a few days in the yard. Indeed, though the Verdier design is living up to the expectations of her skipper and the team, she remains a brand new prototype and naturally requires a few tweaks, starting with the interior fit-out, an element that will be incredibly important for Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier over the coming weeks. Once she is relaunched, there will be exactly one month left for the duo to continue getting a feel for the machine and get ready for the fray prior to the big day itself on 25 October in Le Havre. 

    In the wake of Gitana, September 2015

    For the sixth time this season, the Gitana Team is opening its doors to offer you the chance to dive into the heart of the team and explore what’s happening underneath the façade. With two months to go until the major meeting that is the Transat Jacques Vabre, it’s a webzine entirely dedicated to the Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild which awaits you amidst news articles, an exclusive tour of Gitana 16 and a series of technical explanations about the famous foils.

    Tech Spec

    LOA: 20.10m
    Waterline length: 18.28m
    Beam: 5.70m
    Air draught: 29m
    Water draught: 4.50m
    Displacement (weight): 7.6 tonnes
    Keel bulb weight: 3 tonnes
    Maximum upwind and downwind sail area: 290m2 / 490m2
    Number of sails permitted aboard: 8 (1 mainsail, 7 headsails)
    M2 of living space: 10m2
    Number and type of daggerboards: 2 foils
    Source of on-board energy production: generators coupled to the diesel engine + hydrogenerators

    Naval architects: Guillaume Verdier / VPLP Yacht Design
    Yard: Multiplast (Vannes)
    Rudders: C3 Technologies
    Daggerboards: Heol Composites
    Keel: AMPM (La Mothe-Achard)
    Mast: Lorima (Lorient)

    Start of construction: September 2014
    Launch: 7 August 2015

     

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