Since 1876, the name Gitana has appeared regularly in yachting’s most rarefied circles, attached to boats that challenged convention. The lineage is inseparable from the Rothschild family and began with The Gitana, a steel steamboat commissioned by Baroness Julie de Rothschild at a time when sails still ruled the seas. Today, the newest member of that storied fleet, the Gitana 18, carries the tradition of innovation further than ever. Years before the trimaran touched water in February, Baroness Ariane de Rothschild resolved to extend her family’s sailing legacy with a vessel that would test the outer limits of offshore multihull sailing. The result is a 105-foot foiling yacht designed to fly—quite literally—across open ocean. Its predecessor, the Gitana 17, launched in 2017 as a hybrid that blended conventional trimaran sailing with foiling, lifting clear off the ocean surface before settling back down on its hulls and rising again. Having won 10..
