Blue water performance Nautor’s Swan

BLUE WATER PERFORMANCE

New orders and new designs confirm Nautor’s Swan’s position as one of the world’s leading producers of luxury sailing yachts.

Nautor’s Swan, the Finnish manufacturer of luxury yachts, began 2012 on a very positive note, with six new orders for yachts to be delivered this year and in 2013. Those orders included high performance sailing cruisers across the Swan line – one Swan 80, three Swan 60s, one Swan 53 – as well as a Club Swan 42, the one-design racing yacht that has been developed in partnership with the New York Yacht Club.

The company was particularly pleased with the three new orders for the Swan 60, which takes the fleet to a total of nine to be sailing by the end of this summer. The Swan 60 uses the latest technology, design and construction methods to combine comfortable cruising and easy handling with the potential for racing performance The fifth Swan 60 to be delivered is joining the Swan Maxi circuit in the Mediterranean this summer and will go on to compete in the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo in September.

Enrico Chieffi, managing director of Nautor’s Swan, commented on the orders: “I am delighted that our order book is so full and that our team of quality craftsmen in our yard in Finland are working at close to full capacity. We have a series of innovations and evolutions to the SwanLine that we will be launching throughout 2012, including the new Swan 100”.

Technology and craftsmanship

Nautor’s Swan has been producing oceangoing luxury sailing yachts since the launch of the first of the line, the Swan 36, in 1967. The company itself was established the previous year by Pekka Koskenkyla, a paper sack salesman, who set out to build a highly crafted but strong yacht, using a fibreglass mould, that combined speed and racing capability with comfort and manageability. In fact, the Swan 36 was the first 10 metre fibreglass yacht capable of both cruising and racing. Koskenkyla drew on centuries of boat and shipbuilding experience at Jakobstad, the small town in Finland near the Arctic Circle where he set up Swan production. From the first, the idea was to combine series production of fibreglass hulls with traditional hand-craftsmanship for the wooden sections and fittings to produce performance yachts of unrivalled quality.

Today Nautor’s Swan production is centred on three facilities in Finland. Kalby is the yard the company moved to in 1968 and it was the main yard and head office until November 2006. Today it still houses many facilities for the production of the company’s yachts, including an extensive lamination shop. The most recent investment at Kalby is a high-technology curing oven for the polymerisation of large pre-pegs for hulls and decks. Nautor’s new 30m long FlexMill CNC milling machine is also located at Kalby; it can be used for direct mould milling from 3D files.

The Nautor’s Swan joinery shop is located at Kronoby, 16km from the main facility. Here a team of specialised joinery craftsmen make the interiors of all the company’s yachts in a 7000m2 wood shop, of which a large part is dedicated to the refinement of the hand-picked teak. When complete, the interiors are transported in modules to the various assembly shops.

In September 2000 a new hi-tech Nautor yard was opened in Pietarsaari; this facility became the company’s headquarters for the production of super yachts over 100ft and custom-designed yachts. The yard was extended in 2006 and a private marina was opened. The yard occupies most of the space in the Pietarsaari Boatbuilding Technology Centre, which was set up through the collaboration of Nautor’s Swan and the city of Jakobstad. These new facilities enabled the company to launch Nautor’s Swan Custom, a business that is able to deliver unique, high quality yachts to meet every owner’s needs; the company works with the owner and designer to bring their ideas to fruition at every step of the build. Current projects include the Brenta 76, Tripp 78 and Swan 131.

Racing and super yachts

Over the years 1900 Swans have been produced, almost all of which are still in use. The current range includes 14 models ranging from 45ft to 131ft. The Swan 45 may be the smallest yacht in the range but it is also one of the most important. Launched in 2001, the 45 was a new racing yacht with its own class and quickly became globally recognised in one-class racing. It has since been joined by Nautor’s latest one-design model, the Swan 601, which provides one of the first owner/ driver class within this size range.

It was in 1998 that Nautor’s Swan first broke into the superyacht market of vessels over 100ft and the company has since produced the Swan 100, 112 and 130 – all luxuriously appointed boats with true oceangoing performance. Now the latest variation of this fast-cruiser concept, the Swan 105, has been announced. Created by the company’s internal design team and German Frers, who has led the Nautor’s Swan design office since 1979, the Swan 105 features a performance orientated hull with a clean deck layout yet also has a substantial internal volume and innovative technical features to provide the maximum comfort for owners and guests. The layout includes, for example, owners’ cabins forward and aft, to allow for personal preference, and six hull windows on each side of the hull which combine with the raised saloon windows and ten deck hatches to maximise the light to the living quarters. Amidships is the entertainment cockpit, a protected area well away from the ‘business ends’ of the yacht that seats eight people in luxurious comfort either under passage or enjoying al-fresco dining at anchor. At the stern is an extensive swimming platform with space for a 4 metre tender with its own hydraulic launching and recovery system.

Luca Lucheschi, the commercial director at Nautor’s Swan, commented, “We have used the knowledge gained from 45 years of developing the ultimate in hull lines, foils, deck layout and internal arrangements to produce the Swan 105. She not only commands respect for sailing performance but also stands out from the crowd through her interior comfort quality. A truly beautiful cruising boat with the benefit of modern technical improvements, the Swan 105 continues the proud traditions of the Nautor’s Swan marque.” n