The ClubSwan 50 fleet and an impressive show of strength and style in Mallorca. The success of this much more aggressive but still dual-purpose Nautor design demonstrates what happens if you know your market and are not afraid to take quite bold steps – still comfortable in the knowledge that most of your customers trust you enough to come along for the ride, driving up their own racing abilities but confident you won’t give them something too challenging to actually enjoy. That and the chunky resale values, of course
the power of a very large mainsail. Below the waterline she’s even more
extreme, with a super-skinny and high- aspect keel fin and it is this, along with the giant single C-foil section that rotates through the boat, that has drawn the most attention. From these bare facts alone it would
appear that this is an extreme boat built for rock star crews, yet this is absolutely not what Swan have in mind. Nautor’s Swan vice-president, and 1996
Star World Champion, Enrico Chieffi played a pivotal role in the development of what is a fascinating boat: ‘When we developed the 36 we had three choices of route to go down. One was a classic racer, if you like a modern 5.5m yacht. ‘Another was to develop a modern
sportsboat, but there are lots of these out there right now. The third was to go extreme and create a very fast fully foiling design,’ he explains. ‘We decided against this third option as
it is simply too dangerous for the kind of racing we provide within a fleet of, say, 90 boats at a European championships. Plus, we wanted a boat that could be sailed safely by amateur crews but was still very modern and fast. ‘We were very interested in incorporat-
ing some of the latest thinking in foils so we decided to develop a skimming boat that was in between the sportsboat and the fast foiler. That is the principle behind the C-foils which will take 60 per cent of the weight of the boat when it is at speed on a reach, while providing sideways lift and reducing leeway when sailing upwind. ‘If you look at one-design classes that
46 SEAHORSE
are now in the more mature years of their cycle, such as the Farr 40, RC44, Melges 32 and others, there is clearly a huge potential to gather sailors for this class over the next 10 years,’ he continues. Having sailed the boat myself, albeit in
fairly light conditions, it is clear this is a clever design that can be handled by enthu- siastic weekend warriors. The owner/ driver rule in the class also states that only three of the six crew can be professionals and this will surely help to prevent the fleet becoming a full-on staffing race. Similar restrictions have certainly worked
in the 45, 42 and 50 fleets and both Chieffi and Ferragamo point to the longterm success of the Farr 40 as another example that set the trend over 20 years ago. Both also point to the importance of
running events that fit with what crews are after and, while no one wants to run down other hardworking regatta organisers, it is difficult to ignore the success of brands like Swan that run their own events year in year out and have a clear idea of what works for their audience. ‘We believe that the combination of
tight and tough competition with fun afterwards is what people are looking for,’ continues Chieffi. ‘These middle-range sailors are not coming to finish each day completely exhausted, soaking wet and too tired to go out for a beer in the evening. Getting the right balance between fun and competition is what makes an event successful.’ All of which sounds obvious and yet
there are plenty of professional events where the race/social balance is at the other end of the scale. ‘Of course, the
bottom line is that Nautor’s Swan is a business and our events are a marketing tool, in part, so it is very important for us to make sure that things are organised and run properly. That includes targeting the sailors and fleets who we want to encour- age to come, as well as reminding them when they have to enter, what they need to remember to plan for and so on.’ The company’s commitment is evident
in a three-year programme that sees the next Nations League in the Mediterranean complete the same four-stop tour as in 2019, while the North European League bases itself around the Nord Stream Race, with the Europeans taking in Finland for 2020 and Sweden for 2021. In addition, there are evolving plans to replicate these leagues in the US and Asia. ‘There are plenty of examples outside
sailing. Look at the success of the BMW- managed customer motorcycling events, be it rallies, training sessions, tours or track days – their operation is very sophis- ticated and it works,’ continues Chieffi. The combination of one-design and an
established circuit of events is at the heart of the Nautor’s Swan project and certainly seems to be working. But for Leonardo Ferragamo there is another fundamental ingredient. ‘After the 2009 crisis this is the first time we’re seeing good numbers again and it is encouraging,’ he says. ‘But whatever the times we live in I
believe that what you have to do as a com- pany, be it in fashion or boatbuilding, is to give your customers reassurance that what they have bought is an investment, that it’s worth the money they are paying and that money will be guarded over time.’
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