Left: a priceless product endorsement which money alone could never buy – the late Ramón Carlin’s Swan 65 Sayula II sailing downwind through the Southern Ocean on her way to victory in the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-1974. Sayula II was rolled to nearly 180° throughout the race but came up intact and with both her rigs still standing. Opposite: within a relatively short time the ClubSwan 50s are offering some of the best competition to be found anywhere. The class is also proving a happy hunting ground for pro sailors such as Jochen Schümann, Chris Larson, Ken Read, Iker Martínez, Nacho Postigo and Bouwe Bekking who are all active in the class. Below: Edoardo and Riccardo Ferragamo celebrate winning the ClubSwan 36 prize at the Nations Trophy. The invitation to Juan K to design a radical new ClubSwan range is a powerful signal from a shipyard that clearly intends to carry on breaking new ground in performance and style while rigorously preserving an unmatched reputation for both quality and reliability
the events, and the boats they are building, it becomes easier to see why they feel so punchy and understand how this company is trying to rebuild fleets and events in what they see as a racing void. An important cornerstone of their
vision is one-design racing. ‘I have always been interested in how one-design racing could be achieved successfully in larger boats above 40-45ft,’ explains Ferragamo. ‘Our first experiment into this was with
our Swan 45 which was then followed by the 42, both of which have been, and continue to be, successful classes for us. As we approached our 50th anniversary we wanted to take the next step along these lines as well as making a bigger jump for- ward with the ClubSwan 50 by clearly dif- ferentiating between cruising and racing.’ This was a key stage for Swan, who
have been victims of their own success when it comes to making clear statements about which side of the racing/cruising divide they lie on, with boats going back as far as the Whitbread-winning Swan 65 that was as good a cruiser in her day as she was a racer. This dual personality has at times led to identity crises where cruising sailors saw the boats as too racy, while racing crews saw them as not racy enough. Making a clear stand on racing with the
definitely racy CS50 was a big deal and it would be easy to gloss over the success they have achieved so far. When you compare the 18-boat CS50 fleet in Palma last year with the numbers of other racing yachts at this size, then this 50-footer makes it clear that there is indeed an appetite for the right kind of one-design racing in larger boats. But while the boat is important, the
organisation of the racing plays a key role. ‘The Nations Trophy runs in alternate years to the Swan Cup in Sardinia,’ Ferrag- amo continues. ‘We see this as being central to a good racing circuit for our one-design models by creating a team- styled competition between countries, while also being able to offer good fleet racing for the individual entries. In some
ways what we wanted to create was the same kind of team spirit that led to the success of the Admiral’s Cup, but without the complications associated with building competitive national teams. So while our teams race individually as normal in all our events, The Nations Trophy takes the best two results per country across all the one-design fleets and across the season. ‘Having strong one-design fleets gives us
critical mass. In Palma last year we had 41 boats, with 14 countries represented. We expect to increase this number over the coming seasons to anywhere between 50 and 60 boats,’ says Ferragamo. But their ambitions run much further.
Flushed with success in the 50ft scene, a size that has proved hard to crack for others when it comes to one-design racers, Ferrag- amo and his team believe they can develop this concept for a Maxi-sized racer. Broadly speaking, the ClubSwan 80
looks like a larger version of the 36 with several similar features. Understandably the company is being coy about revealing much more, but the CS80 seems as if it is a weapon of a boat. ‘It’s not confirmed that we are going to go ahead yet, but we are definitely working hard on the concept right now,’ says Ferragamo. To deliver a production-built grand prix
80-footer would surely be a coup in the racing world. The only recent example of a similar one-design would be the Volvo Ocean Race 65 which was clearly a very
different commercial proposition. Before that there was the Grand Mistral 80 one- design class created by Whitbread winner Pierre Fehlmann in the 1990s, with assis- tance from Alinghi’s Ernesto Bertarelli, but that suffered from a lack of a proven brand and consequently the boats them- selves lost value at a prohibitive rate. On the other hand, is there really a
group of potential owners for such a large racing boat from a production builder? With a current order book that includes four 98-footers and a 125-footer, the answer would appear to be pretty positive. And then, would owners be prepared to
go down a one-design route in an area of the sport where engineering an advantage is as much a part of the contest as winning though crew work and smart tactics? ‘The CS80 would cost significantly less
than a custom Maxi, plus there is the ques- tion of a more reliable resale value which in the case of Swan is well established,’ Ferragamo says. ‘It’s a big difference in outlay, plus while the concept for the CS80 is of a well-controlled one-design class, there will be plenty of technical interest for the owners and teams through their sail development and crewing programmes. ‘Also, we know that the values of our
one-design boats remain high, which appeals to a lot of owners! These factors have been instrumental in the success of the ClubSwan50 and the fleet is thriving.’ Meanwhile, at the other end of the size
scale, what is behind the dramatic Club- Swan36 and why is it being seen as such an important boat? Designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian, the
new one-design is the product of an impressive line-up of racing talent with structural guru Giovanni Belgrano brought onboard as principal engineer, along with aerodynamic expert Hervé Devaux developing the rig. The overall style of Devaux’s skinny, heavily raked and hugely pre-bent mast drew a great deal from the Olympic Star’s rig where mast control is an important factor in managing
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