Magic Carpet-E: 100 Feet, 37 Tons and a Canting Keel – The New Weapon by Verdier and His Team

Magic Carpet-e, the latest member of the Maxi class, is taking part in its first regatta this week: Palma Vela. Designed by the naval architecture firm Guillaume Verdier, this new 100-foot yacht features a canting keel that tilts both aft and sideways, and it’s powered by a battery system. An innovative superyacht that required nearly 30,000 hours of design work!

For the first time, Magic Carpet-e, the latest addition to the Maxi class, will face its competitors during the Palma Vela from May 1st to 4th, just six months after being launched—an event in the exclusive world of Maxis.

This is the fourth “MC” in the Magic Carpet saga, owned by Lindsay Owen-Jones. To replace the third version, the owner—who previously worked with Reichel-Pugh Yacht Design and the Wally shipyard—this time chose Verdier’s team and the Persico shipyard.

“It’s kind of the first time we’ve been asked to build a boat of this size under IRC rules,” says Hervé Penfornis, a long-time collaborator of Guillaume Verdier.
“They asked us to design a 100-footer that would potentially be faster than the previous boat,” adds Guillaume, speaking from New Zealand.

Performance Meets Luxury

“At first, Lindsay told me to design the boat I wanted. But the final version has little to do with the original concept,” says Guillaume. “We worked like crazy on it, but ended up scrapping it and designing something else, more in line with the previous boat.”

So, no foils, but a yacht that combines performance and comfort.

“It’s a racing yacht that doesn’t actually race that much—about five events a year in the Mediterranean,” Hervé explains. “Aside from that, the owner wants to cruise for two to three weeks a year. So it had to perform well under IRC but also be livable, with a cozy interior.”

“The wood you see inside is just veneer,” says Guillaume. “It’s made by companies that build furniture for aviation—honeycomb core, carbon, and a thin layer of wood. And a good part of the interior is removed for racing. We worked with Axel de Beaufort on the interior design.”

In terms of performance, the team leaned on their offshore racing experience to design a lightweight yacht for its size—around 37 tons, shaving off about 10 tons compared to the previous Magic Carpet.

Canting Keel and Daggerboard

This 100-footer features a canting keel, “like on an IMOCA.”

“The idea behind the canting keel is to avoid a poor righting moment,” says Guillaume.

But to access Mediterranean ports, the keel needed to retract without compromising the yacht’s livability. The team came up with a keel that tilts aft, reducing draft from 7 meters to 4.5 meters.

“A real challenge,” says the team, especially because the bulb remains horizontal when the keel is retracted.

In front of the keel is a daggerboard (“canard”), which moves vertically and tilts sideways to provide lateral resistance when the keel is canted to windward.

“In that sense, it’s similar to Comanche (a VPLP/Verdier design), which performs well upwind,” explains Verdier.
“We also have two vertically retractable rudders, with a hydraulic system, for better control on reaching and downwind points of sail,” adds Hervé.

A Fully Electric Yacht

Another key design feature: the yacht is 100% electric, requiring a large onboard battery bank.

“These boats consume a lot of power. Everything is hydraulic, and the engine usually runs continuously,” explains Guillaume.
The owner, however, wanted a quieter, more eco-friendly solution.

To achieve this, the boat’s captain and lead engineer collaborated with the Williams racing team, who have extensive experience with Formula E cars.

“There are enough batteries on board to match several electric cars, using high-voltage systems similar to those in racing vehicles. For day races, the battery bank is usually sufficient to run independently.”

But can all these innovations—developed through 30,000 hours of design—be applied to larger-scale, production boats?

“Pushing the boundaries always teaches us new things,” say the architects.
“Eventually, these innovations become more common, especially in cruising yachts. What we’re learning here about battery storage will help drive future advancements. And maybe more owners will be willing to invest in them.”

Technical Specifications

Length overall: 30.48 meters (100 feet)

Beam: 7.2 meters

Draft: 7.1 meters (reduces to 4.5 meters with tilted keel)

Air draft: 46 meters

Displacement: 37 tons

Architect: Guillaume Verdier

Builder: Persico Marine