When the 111ft superyacht ‘Raven’ emerged from her builders Baltic Yachts in Finland, she turned plenty of heads.

Built in secret and with giant foiling arms on either side, there was no shortage of comment as to whether this concept would work. Now, with footage of her first trials we have the answer.

And with 100ft in mind, racing solo around the world on an Ultim trimaran is beyond comprehension for most of us. But as the six skippers in the Arkea Ultim Challenge took on their 24,000 mile lap of the planet we have been able to see the extraordinary performance of these incredible machines and their skippers.

We report on this incredible race as Dee Caffari explains what has been going on.

There’s also been plenty of speculation as to when America’s Cup teams would launch their AC75s, the boats that they will use for AC37.

 Baltic 111 Custom foil-assisted superyacht ‘Raven’ sea trials © Dan-Erik Olsen

Now we know as three teams break cover and consider what this means. The full schedule for the Cup has also been published, it’s going to be busy in Barcelona.

Plus, a double helping of Docktalk.

00:26 Raven’s first flight 02:17 Arkea Ultim Challenge 23:58 America’s Cup launch dates, news & views

Docktalk 20:57 Doyle Sails 21:57 Diverse Performance Systems 22:51 McConaghy Boats 27:49 Slam 28:51 UK Sails 29:54 Reckmann

Facebook – @planetsail.org Website – www.planetsail.co.uk

Watch more at www.youtube.com/c/planetsailonline

by Matt Sheahan