It’s always a small event. Building an offshore racing boat is the starting point for a great adventure. And the phenomenon gains momentum when it comes to an Ultim trimaran, these flying sea monsters, 32 meters long and 23 wide. This Thursday, on the occasion of the presentation of the Kummerman Prize awarded by the Marine Academy “to a personality who is distinguished by his work or his successes in the field of methods of construction or operation of commercial ships of all kinds”, the recipient Ariane de Rothschild announced the construction of a new Ultim to replace the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, winner of the last Route du rhum. Still competitive and among the favorites to triumph in the new round-the-world race (departure on January 7 from Brest), the Rothschild family trimaran is now on sale (between 13 and 15 million) and will be replaced in August 2025 by its successor whose construction plans are almost finalized.
Cyril Dardashti, general manager of the Gitana Team stable founded by Ariane and Benjamin de Rothschild in 2000, explains the philosophy to Le Figaro: “We respect the dimensions of the Ultim class, 32 meters by 23, and its regulations but we let ourselves the possibility of having developments that will be outside the rules of the class to try to break records. The idea is to make a Swiss Army knife boat to sail solo and with a crew, in races and breaking records (around the globe, Atlantic, etc.).”
Designed by Guillaume Verdier and built by the CDK shipyard in Lorient, like its predecessor (you don’t change a team that has won a lot), this “G18” should make it possible to “take a step forward”, according to Dardashti. “Given the experience gained during six years of sailing with the current trimaran, particularly on its operation with all the data recovered on board, we now have more certainty about our past uncertainties.” Concerning above all the theft of these extraordinary machines but not only that. If no technical details have been flirted with, and will not filter through, Charles Caudrelier, the official skipper (undoubtedly until the Route du Rhum 2026 to defend his crown), sets the course: “we will have to fly earlier and better in the rough seas. We hope to win on this. In any case, I’m excited to make a new boat. I’ve never done anything like that from A to Z. There’s a real dialogue, it’s a fascinating job. Thinking about how to develop boats interests me almost more today than sailing.”
However, it is he who should, with an ambitious objective, compete in the Transat Jacques 2025, the first race of a new trimaran which “offers a small break” within a “coherent and necessarily constrained” budget. “It annoys me to hear that we have no financial constraints,” reframes Cyril Dardashti. I think, apart from the Actual team, we have the smallest budget in the Ultim class. » No official figure there either but the construction budget for the new trimaran should be around 16 million euros.
This announcement in any case confirms the appeal of the Ultim class, which sees a new boat strengthening a skinny field. But also the attachment of Ariane de Rothschild and her two daughters to the sailing project driving the family since 1876, despite the disappearance of Benjamin, their husband and father, in 2021. “This announcement shows to what extent this family is established in everything that is innovation, research, daring, surpassing oneself, all the values that Benjamin de Rothschild transmitted and that Ariane tries to perpetuate,” adds Cyril Dardashti. “Throughout history, we see to what extent Gitana has always been and will remain a technology laboratory that defines the standards of tomorrow in sailing (…), concludes Ariane de Rothschild.
