After my last article on the brand new X-Yachts XR-41 there´s no other boat than Nautor´s ClubSwan 43 I can present to you today. Both boats share a similar size, similar specifications and thus a similar purpose. One might think that the ClubSwan 43 is the antagonist of the XR-41. But it becomes clear very quickly that she is mostly not. ClubSwan, that´s for sure, is an all-out racer which is mainly not intended to function as a cruiser as well. Nevertheless, it´s interesting to compare both boats.
As I have been told, Nautor changed their exhibition-location for Boot Duesseldorf on a short notice before the boat show started – not for the good, in my opinion, if this is true. The stand was a bit „hidden“ beind the big booths. On top it seemend that the Finnish shipyard as well shrunk their booth-size a bit so that the stand in itself appeared a bit cramped, overcrowded. The ClubSwan 43, as a result, was hard to spot and coudln´t really show off the aggressive lines and racy design by Juan Kouyoumdjian. But no worries, I´d found her …
No messing around: That´s a racer!
Put behind the also brand new ClubSwan 28-dinghy this 14.56 meters long racing machine makes clear from the first sight that she´s not a boat to mess around with. ClubSwan has become a trademark in itself, one of whichs properties is serious racing on the track. I didn´t waste time either and roamed the cockpit to look out for details confirming this claim.
All positions, be it the guys on the winches sheeting and trimming the sails or the helmsman, are very clearly separated from each other. Juan K left significant space between the workplaces of each crew member as to make sure that everyone has the room to stand, sit, grind, work properly, even in heavily heeled or moving sailing conditions. On many boats you seem to have shorter distances between these spots to make sure that the boat can be operated efficiently single- or double handed.
Workplace for a dedicated crew
Club racing is for the most part crewed racing. That´s what the ClubSwan 43 seems to be made for. All lines and the design how they are lead and where indicates that. For example, a nice detail, the lines operating the mainsheet traveller: They are lead on the cpckpit floor to a position just in front of the steering wheels near the Genoa-winches.
That´s dedication: It would have been simpler to have them fixed just there near the traveller-track behind the wheels, but it is not the helmsman´s task to fine-tune the main. Another indicator for the all-out racing dedication is the elaborate clavier of trimming-tools on the coachroof next to the entryway down: You won´t find this on a „performance“-boat or „cruiser-racer“. It is really thought through and optimized to fit a professional racing-gang.
I like two aspects here most: One was the level of seriousness of the hardware shown. For example, there aren´t just simply sheets for trimming, there are snatch-pulleys and lifts with a certain reduction ratio. An indicator for the forces these lines have to deal with and also for the intricate level of trimming that´s taking place here: It´s not just sheeting in some canvas, this is serious fine-tuning. A second thing were the details, like, for example, the jammers mounted with a little offset:
I am far from being a raceboat-pro and maybe this is something I get wrong, but it seems to me that this offset-mounting is done to prevent erroneous opening of false jammers. How often do people open the wrong jammer or take time to check which jammer would be the right one? In a race, maybe in the midst of a maneuver, this can cost precious seconds. By separating and offsetting each jammer, at least in my imagination, it becomes clearer and easier to work them.
Nautor – shipyard or event-agency?
Nautor Swan is a strange brand for me. On the one hand they offer absolutely upper shelf luxurious cruising yachts which are clearly on top of many, many dream yacht-lists for thousands of sailors around the world – on the other hand, your really rarely see them sailing. I really cannot remember spotting a modern Swan recently in a harbor. There are a lot classic Swans sailing around, and it´s always a pleaure admiring the old Sparkman & Stephens-lines or the grace of the Ron Holland Swans. But I really can´t remember that a present-day Frers-design or even a boat by Juan K sailed by or had been moored. And then there is this ClubSwan thing.
On the Nautor website it is said that the ClubSwan-boats are specifically designed to take part in the various regattas, like the Nations League or the Swan One-Design world championships. Citing the website, they are there to compete against each other in „premier global regattas at luxurious destinations with vibrant social events.“ So, yeah, it is already in the name: It is a club. The boat is your entrance fee. A for the most part closed-off, exclusive club of – let´s be honest here – very rich people enjoying this wonderful sport in exclusive racing events. Which is a fact I am absolutely fine with: The oceans are big enough to be the playground for all kinds of people. Be it the 5.80 meters DIY-self built wooden racer on the one end of the scale or the infighting millionaire´s club. The ClubSwan 43 is a weapon, a sharp blade that surely makes a hell of fun to fight with!
A completely different picture: Below deck
This serious gentlemen´s racing-attitude with style becomes a true boost and a fairly different picture when going down below. This is where the luxury and the true DNA of Nautor comes into play. Heaven, this is one of the most coherent and beautifully designed interiors I´ve seen in years! Fresh, open, light-suffused and captivating. It is very modern but also does not overstep the marks.
It all starts with a very, very simple layout. No messing around, no fancy things: You go down the companionway, there´s a small alley to portside, a daybath (and only one single bathroom for the whole boat) to starboard-side. A wide, open saloon with two identical sofas facing each other, a folding table in the middle. No main bulkhead in the front, meaning no doors either to the owner´s „section“ (can´t call it a cabin anymore).
The owner´s bed is a simple triangle of two matresses, two hanging cabinets (later more on these) and that´s basically it. No door, no curtain. In a way, the ClubSwan 43 is kind of similar in its approach to privacy and usage as my Omega 42. I am sailing mostly alone or with my partner/kids. That means, I don´t need closed-off privacy at all. No doors. I´d rather have the feeling of volume and openess, rather admire the full size of the interior. Same with the ClubSwan: If the owner is aboard deciding to sleep here, it is his boat as a whole. The saloon becomes the stage for the bedroom. I like that very much!
The magic of innovative and thorough design
Like so often, the true ingenouity is in the details. Sustainability in boatbuilding is a major issue and will most certainly become one of the biggest challenges for the industry in the coming years – much more than digitalization or „modernization“. In this, Nautor Swan also tries to implement some steps to attract clients with a green consciousness.
Most visible is the utilization of eco-friendly sourced materials, like cork in this case. I personally like cork as a material: It is warm, has a nice smell and I fancy the haptics. Swan integrated cork to function as wall-paddings and a „backdrop“ for a nice play with lights and shadows.
It felt like they had colorized the cork paddings, in the case of the exhibited boat it felt like a Burgundy-reddish tone. Together with the light shining onto these, it creates a very nice atmosphere. The facings, somethimes bigger, sometimes smaller in size, reveal more and less of the cork-surface. It´s a very thought-through play with colors, light and shadows.
Italian designer Lucio Michelletti has made a wonderful job inside here. The combination of lush, non-crowded volume and clear understatement with well-selected materials is wonderfully arranged with some surprising materials and shapes. The unusual milled into the EVA-decking of the floorboards cintribute to this light, modern, almost futuristic feeling. Congratulations, this is a very special, one-of-a-kind design-language. I am sure it will find many more admirers.
Simple and purpose-oriented
In this, the boat isn´t over-specced nor wastes around or is showing off luxury bling. Quite the opposite is the case, indeed. Take the galley for example. It is kept super-simple: Classic L-shape with a small two-flamed gas-burner stove (no oven either) to just prepare the simpliest of meals or a quick coffee. No hustle, no bling.
A top-loader fridge with a little worktop surface and a simple sink. That´s just it. Of course, the ClubSwan 43 is a very, very expensive luxury toy. But the game it plays has nothing to do with underway-cooking or offering the cruising amenities found in so many yachts: The galley of the ClubSwan 43, it seems, is just there „in case of“ – no one will really use it. That´s one big difference to the XR-41´s galley which in comparison is much bigger and more luxurious. The same „austerity“ can be seen in the bathroom: As much as the design office has put efforts into the saloon, they couldn´t care less about the head.
Again, a toilet (at least it´s electrified) and a simple hand wash basin, a simple shower that supposedly will never be used, that´s it. Why waste precious material an effort in a space that´s so rarely used? Also: Why add weight to the a displacement-sensitive boat like this all-out racing machine? I like this approach, though the conrast to the very nicely designed saloon couldn´t be starker.
Lightweight & modular – in style
Some details I already liked in the ClubSwan 50 when she came out a few years ago are the modular, lightweight and stylish cabinets. Four of which can be found aboard the 43. The idea is to offer stowage for clothing and personal stuff of the crew and owners to put away when sailing (nobody wants to live out of the duffel bag but also have the opportunity to quickly remove them for racing so tave weight (and make room).
Aboard the ClubSwan 43 these cabinets are made of a strong denim, hung onto vertical rails by simple, yet stylish buckles. An efficient and as I find it, very nice solution. Again: Why waste (heavy) wooden material for furniture that in many cases for the use case of this boat wouldn´t even be filled with stuff?
The cabinets are opened by a lingle zipper, the closing front can be rolled up and secured by two velcros. Very effective! If you check my article on the ClubSwan 50 you can see that the variants used back then also had some nicely crafted leather-applications and thus looked very „upper class“, like those classy hard suitcases lashed to the boot-lids of British cars. For me, this is not a workaround, these cabinets fit really nicely to the boat´s style.
Self-confidence, even on the B-side
What I also like, in fact, it made me smile, was the bold confidence with which Nautor doesen´t give a shit about their B-sides in the aft cabins. I mean, in many, if not all, boats with a price tag like a Swan having a bare, raw B-side like those would be an absolute no-go:
The backside of the chart-plotter isn´t even covered by a panel. The cables are running in the open only to siappear under a roofing panel that doesn´t even fits the white color-grade of the hull color. Again: I like it! I´ve had the same in my old GEKKO where I considered seeing the hardened pressure marks of the vacuum-infusion pipes or the crinkles of the vacumm-plastic cover (LINK) as a sign for quality.
The ClubSwan 43 is entirely made of vinylester and epoxy with some carbon reinforcements. Like with the bathroom or the rarely-used galley: Why waste material, efforts and add weight in places where rarely people get? Even if there were to be guests sleeping in the aft cabins: This is a race boat, nobody really expects high-class luxury suites in those aft cabins. The self-confidence and matter of course with which the ClubSwan 43 displays this is refreshing.
Racing in style, a truly exquisite club
So, concluding my walkthrough in Juan K´s new Finish clubracer, what´s my impression? First of all, I am not a big fan of the lines of the ClubSwan 43: Her sheer line contradicts my personal taste of what I consider beautiful in a yacht. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so I am sure that many othe rpeople will be attracted by this approach. Looking at the bare numbers and fact, she will most certainly be a very fun and exciting yacht to sail. Becoming a member of this illustrious club and competing against other in such a weapon is surely pure fun!
What I do see though is the fine design and efforts which went into making this boat fit the ClubSwan-range which currently starts with the latest entry, the 28-footer and ends with the absolute weapon, the ClubSwan 80 (a crazy boat which I really would love to see in reality!) The 43 fits nicely into the design language and is in this indistinguishable. Seeing a yacht like this leaves no other interpretation than: „It´s a ClubSwan!“ Not many designs are able to set themselves apart from everything else so clearly.
This boat has so many little nice details which I really liked. Just look at the picture above: The boom is a little masterpiece of craftsmanship with its internal mainsheet-lead. Nobody needs this in reality, but it´s just nice to look at. And I am sure, people at the starting line of the Giraglia or the Swan World Championships love to admire things like this.
As I stated earlier, you cannot really compare the XR-41 to the ClubSwan 43. Both boats are too different in their set-up and sailing program. Nevertheless, as me and probably also you, dearest reader, we will never be in the position to realistically consider either of those two boats, a comparison is a fun thing to do. Another reason why I love boats hows like Duesseldorf: This is the only, rare occasion, where „we“ have access to such yachts.
Related articles you might find interesting as well:
Aboard ClubSwan 50
Juan K´s First 30 – cruising edition and racing edition
Nautor Swan 65 – a fresh approach to sailing?