Nautor Swan Has A New Pocket Rocket

Nautor Swan is best known for the modern-day giants of its fleet, but they’re now extending their range into the high 20s with the announcement earlier this year of the ClubSwan 28, an impressive-looking sportboat from avant-garde designer Juan Kouyoumdjian that is said to be “based on the concept of simplicity, quality and, of course, pure one-design speed.”

Expected to be launched by late summer, the ClubSwan 28 has been conceived to be “as simple as possible,” while still maintaining a high level of performance in every condition. Nautor Swan’s design brief says: “Both hull and deck will be built using specifically reinforced fiberglass, with carbon mast and no backstay. The hull has been designed to perform well in all conditions, specifically in the medium/light winds.”

The deck layout design provides a clean and safe cockpit for a crew of four, allowing to race leg-in, sitting inboard. “All the ergonomic studies have been done around this feature,” says the builder. “The ClubSwan 28 will have a full kite retrieve system with a sliding hatch on the bow.”

Thanks to the lifting keel and dimensions, the boat is trailable, and is anticipated to be rigged and unrigged in few hours only. As the renderings show, the sail plan is powerful and the sail quiver includes a mainsail, a jib, an AP kite and a reaching kite.

The concept of the rig is all about simplicity, based on one single movement of the rig up and down through a dedicated and simple hydraulic system (mast jack) the mast bend and headstay tension is achieved simultaneously without the need of a backstay thanks to the configuration of the shrouds.

“ClubSwan 28 is not going to be extreme but will have great performance in medium/light breeze,” says Federico Michetti, Head of Sports Activities and Product Manager. “The brief was to have a boat not pushing to the limits of absolute performance, but it is a boat easily manageable and easy to sail.”

CLUBSWAN 28 PRELIMINARY TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS