YACHT was the first magazine in the world to have the opportunity to test Nautor's new boat at the beginning of July. The spectacular boat and the shipyard were open to us for three days. And even though it was only blowing at 8 to 12 knots in the Gulf of Bothnia, Juan Kouyoumdjian's radical design for a production yacht impressively demonstrated its potential.
Even a light breeze is enough to get the ClubSwan 50 planing under main and barely overlapping Genoa 2. Under masthead gennaker she sails consistently in the double-digit range and simply produces the necessary pressure, which was lacking atmospherically, herself.
Her upwind speed is at least as impressive: at cruising speed, she effortlessly converts 10 knots of wind into 8.2 to 8.5 knots of speed - with tacking angles of around 80 degrees, which is first class for the conditions and the very wide aft hull. All the more so as these were the very first outings.
The basis for the enormous power is a full carbon construction, in which everything from the mast support to the berth supports is made of a very light carbon fibre sandwich - which in turn gave scope for a really warm, cosy and high-quality interior, refined with elaborate leather applications by the Italian interior designers from Poltrona Frau.
All about the new ClubSwan 50 and Nautor's plans for the future in the big cover story ofYACHT 18 (available from 17 August at newsagents and as a digital edition) - and first insights in the exclusive picture gallery here on YACHT online.
