And get going she definitely did soon after the first new DSS-equipped Infiniti 52 ocean racer hit the water in the UK

Stu Bannatyne worked up the following article for Seahorse Magazine on his experience of sailing the boat, but of course with recent events we just want to add an introductory note on the owner's feedback…

”We managed to sail almost 5000 nautical miles aboard our magnificent yacht, which was long enough time to conclude that the new Infiniti 52 exceeded all our expectations for the performance of the boat. I will never forget the feeling when Tulikettu leaned on its foil and lifted herself above the waves for the first time reaching effortlessly boat speeds of 28 knots without help from surf waves, and the wind speed didn’t come even close to our boat speed back then.”

Said Stu Bannatyne, Tulikettu Racing team’s coach and Doyle Sails representative - “The few times I sailed on the boat during early sea trials were truly exciting and she gave more than a few glimpses of her very impressive performance through a range of conditions. An absolute pleasure to drive and trim, Tulikettu is I think a genuine step forward in technology and performance for an offshore 52 foot race boat. I understand that Arto is very keen to be able to get back to racing his Infiniti 52 as soon as possible. This is great news and completely understandable! I look forward to the opportunity to join him once again.”

It had been a long time coming but the first session of sailing the new Infiniti 52 Tulikettu resulted in a very productive and promising few days. It was in late January from Gosport, on the south coast of the UK, where the boat could be put through the commissioning and sea trials phase of the programme. Stu Bannatyne was on board.

We were extremely fortunate with the weather. Clear skies and a range in windspeeds from zero to 30kts meant we could see all the sail combinations in range and were able to test the DSS foil and other systems extensively under realistic sailing conditions.

The first day we used just the furling J4 and full mainsail to check systems, rig tune and DSS operation. All went well and gave us the confidence on day two to spend considerably more time on the water and go through a bigger range of sailing load cases with more of the inventory. The full size, structured luff J2 headsail fitted perfectly and the Diverse hydraulics powerpack worked faultlessly to enable very accurate positioning of the rams controlling the jib tack and lead. It was becoming apparent that the thought processes behind the deck layout and choice of systems were working very well and the ability of the trimmers to control and adjust the setup of the mainsail and headsail with the touch of a button or two was very easy. This ease of use will translate directly to performance on the racecourse as the mainsail trimmer can make adjustments to the setup of both sails, utilising the easy access keypad adjacent to the wheel. No one needs to leave the rail, keeping weight outboard and minimal disruption for the helmsman.

Below: Even in initial trials the sailplan was working well at impressively low apparent wind angles

Final commissioning of the water ballast system had not yet been completed so it was difficult to ascertain the absolute performance potential when sailing upwind, but early indications suggest the boat is well balanced and easy to shift gears to suit changing wind speeds and sea states. As we cracked off to around 70 degrees TWA, the genoa staysail (which also doubles as the storm jib when rules require) was hoisted and fitted very nicely inside the J2 – itself now sheeted from a deck padeye midway between the coachroof edge and the rail. The ability to efficiently set the genoa staysail inside the J2 at narrow angles was really important to me because the boat balance and sailplan efficiency improves greatly with this setup, so to see it working at apparent wind angles inside 30 degrees certainly justified the extra design effort we put into this area.

Downwind potential
A quick look at the A2 and spinnaker staysail in the fading light confirmed that the Infiniti 52 has the potential for some impressive downwind performance. The beauty of the overall concept means that the boat’s performance at wider angles in lighter air should be very competitive with an easily driven, narrow waterline, lower drag hull. The mast position and long bowsprit mean extra sail area in the form of staysails can efficiently fill the slot, adding the always desired extra drive force for underpowered sailing conditions. When the need for extra righting moment emerges with increasing windspeed, then the DSS foil provides this, enabling the boat to maintain low heel angles for maximum efficiency of the sail plan and appendages. Obviously very early days still, but by with my “seat-of-the-pants” feeling, I could notice the positive effects of the foil kicking in at boat speeds as low as 12kts. This is hugely encouraging in terms of the overall performance potential across the range of conditions.

Day three was definitely the most productive and with a forecast of up to 30kts early and slowly easing, it was perfect to get a lot done. We started the day with a single reef in the main and J3 headsail, cruising out of the channel from our Gosport base. I have to say, I think it caught everyone by surprise when casually sheeting on as we rounded one of the channel markers, the boat, which was just cruising at 12-13kts dramatically accelerated to around 17-18kts and the spray started flying. Just to recap – without a staysail (or two) and overly attentive trimming, the speed jumped around five knots as the foil very quickly contributed significantly to the righting moment. We quickly sheeted on and the boat easily maintained speeds in the mid to high teens as we completed the harbour exit before sheeting on to go upwind. That was a cool moment and confirmed that the boat will have some very fast reaching numbers when everything is dialled in.

Below: An enormous amount of combined righting moment is delivered by the DSS foil and water ballast tanks

Dynamic stability
A long upwind leg followed, changing down through the reefs and ultimately using the genoa staysail in storm jib mode to complete the delivery of Tulikettu up towards Yarmouth. We saw gusts to 30kts and with some trepidation were contemplating the most appropriate sail plan to use for the downwind leg. However, as forecast, the breeze moderated and it was an easy decision to go with the A4 and full mainsail for the return journey. We set ourselves up with a long port gybe to start with and took the necessary time to safely set up the DSS and get everyone in position. The breeze by now was around 18-20kts and the boat responded very well. Once settled we were able to comfortably average close to wind speed with a few short bursts into the low 20s, and a top speed of around 24kts. Really encouraging was how stable and easy to steer the boat was. The foil behaved exactly as predicted, trimming the bow up and adding significant righting moment. We almost felt underpowered at times, but secure in the knowledge we have more sail area to add when fully triple heading, this was not a concern. The powered winches gave us the confidence to work the sheets aggressively without anyone leaving the rail. This will be a huge performance boost when racing offshore with reduced crew numbers.

The A4 sailing was over pretty quickly as we still wanted to check in with the masthead zero (MHO) before getting back to Gosport so we dropped the chute just off Cowes and set up the MHO for the remainder of the downwind. By now the breeze was dropping further and we were able to play around with some different angles and modes. The concept of this MHO is a little different to traditional sails for this size of boat in that it is a fairly large and flat sail – a concept normally reserved for much bigger, faster boats. With the DSS fully engaged and doing its thing, it was time for Arto (Tulikettu’s owner) to take the helm. Fair to say he was a little nervous at first. Very quickly though, the tense grimace turned into a wide smile as he easily relaxed into a smooth driving style and found the boat responsive but not too twitchy. His comments later about how much easier it was than he expected should be very encouraging for all prospective owners thinking about the Infiniti 52 as their next offshore racing platform.

Below: From hull #3 onwards AC75 and Imoca 60 builder Persico is series-building the Infiniti 52 in Europe

The final day had a very light forecast and so it proved. A great opportunity to check out the light air sails so we switched to the one reef main and J1. A very quick upwind before switching to the MHO for a light air evaluation. The boat powered up very quickly and it is easy to see how this sail will be the only one we need between about 70° and 140° TWA when the wind speed is below 6kts. The ability to sheet inboard and inhaul the clew at tight angles enables some very tight sailing angles to be achieved and then at the wider angles, the big, flat MHO performs very well at keeping the boat powered up when looking to sail deep. As the breeze died away to nothing, we hoisted the spinnaker staysail as a wind seeker – just to check sheeting and confirm the ability of this sail to get the boat moving in those “flopping” conditions. All checked out and it was a very happy team that then motored back to the dock for a late lunch.

It was a hugely productive few days and although only at the very beginning of the development programme, we have seen some very encouraging signs of performance and behaviour to confirm the immense potential of this platform. The boat balances well, the DSS foil contributes as planned and the Doyle Sails inventory developed for this boat specifically performed as expected. Early days and the learning curve will be close to vertical for a few months yet but keep an eye out for Tulikettu on the racecourse soon.

Click here for more information on Infiniti Yachts »

The stunning and stunningly affordable Aeolos P30 is about to get a big sister... Hans Genthe introduces us to his latest concept, the new P45

In various forums the question arises again and again: which cruising yachts can plane? In 1982 I had already dealt with this question for the first time and found a well-founded answer in the first edition of Konstruktion und Bau von Yachten by H. Dieter Scharping. I was then able to learn a lot more in the towing tank of the Hamburg Shipbuilding Research Institute during my shipbuilding studies – and to now see things more practically: The more curve in the underwater hull (rocker), the more difficult it is for the boat to detach itself from the wave system and leave its transom wave behind (planing). Roughly speaking, with any rocker angle of 15 degrees or less in the last 20-30 per cent of the craft, a boat can start surfing and eventually also plane.

The more weight a boat has, the more buoyancy it needs, and the more curved the lines underwater, the worse it can plane or surf. The planing ability therefore depends less on the beam and more on the weight. Wide-beam yachts can carry more weight with flatter lines. The BB10 can plane with only 2.3m of beam, but the boat weighs only 2.2t. But you have to mind the weight of your luggage – more than 30kg/person is not allowed!

Weight influences the shape: the lighter the boat, the flatter the underwater hull form. Then you just need to have enough sail area, and off you go. You can save weight by building lighter and/or leaving some comforts ashore.

• many large stringers that divide and stiffen the space inside (leaving little space for accommodation or stowage)
• high performance materials (expensive)
• install less stuff/comfort
• super light construction of any comforts you do have (very expensive)

A typical low-cost cruising yacht from a production shipyard has flat, shallow stringers, a thick (heavy) hull, cheap (heavy) equipment and is therefore overall heavy, round and not particularly buoyant. The opposite example is the ASSO 99 with zero degrees stern rocker angle and a displacement of just 1.1t at 10m length.

Below: The key to planing ability is minimal rocker. A near-zero exit angle of the stern lines is the perfect planing shape

Since a keelboat cannot plane upwind, one could simply increase the sail area by using large downwind sails. But with heavy boats, this only helps in light winds.

So it becomes clear where to put the weight. Here are a few key figures about boats that I have sailed a lot and that can regularly plane.

• BB10: 10m, 2.2t, 1.2 ballast, planing starts at Force 5. Surfs at Force 4
• Farr 280: 8.7m, 1.35t, 0.65t ballast, planing: Force 3-4
• ASSO 99: 10m, 1.1t , starts planing at Force 3
• Rainbow 42: 12.7m, 3,6t, 1,6t ballast, planing: Force 4-5
• Rogers 46: 14m, 6t, 3t ballast, planing: Force 4

• Dehler 35 SQ: 10.5m, 5.5t, ballast 1,8t, does not plane, can surf
• Hallberg Rassy 41: 12m, 12t, lots of ballast, never planes
• Swan 48: 14.6m, 16.7t, never planes, but is nice upwind

During my work for Elvstrøm I sailed a lot of cruising yachts. I always went out with the new sails to check them... but I never had a planing experience in the three years I was doing it.

Below: The interior design of the cruiser/racer version of the P45 is conservative, with a threecabin layout and ample living space for a crew of six. Pipe cots can be added for racing

Creating a new touring experience
Encouraged by the success of the Aeolos P30 I’ve made a concept for a light 45ft yacht with a lot of comfort (in my opinion). I don’t want to follow marketing-driven design or rating trends with this boat. Sure, the rating parameters are a bit optimised, but not at the cost of hull performance. The P45 is designed for shorthanded sailing with a crew of two, and for long distance sailing or racing with a target average wind range of 12-25 kts. But the boat can also be sailed with a crew of 6-8. The hull is CFD optimised by FluidEngineeringSolutions in Germany and for the structural engineering Solico, in the Netherlands, was chosen again. VMax is the partner for the ORC optimisation.

The Aeolos P45 Luxus racing version is the lightest compromise in terms of comfort that I can imagine. All parts are made of carbon prepreg with foam core. If you look at the key data of this boat, it quickly becomes clear that not much extra equipment can be taken along! On the other hand, most parts of the equipment become cheaper, e.g. the engine. As a thumb value one can say 2.5 kW/knot is enough to reach hull speed.

Below: The forecabin of the cruiser/racer version offers a simple but comfortable double berth for cruising with your partner... after you’ve finished the race

The interior design of the Aeolos P45-L is rather conservative. Small improvements on a classic yacht layout that works well on the sea and in harbour. With its style and grace, the Aeolos P45-L has an interior arrangement offering abundant space and volume for a crew of six. The three-cabin layout comprises an owner’s cabin forward with a spacious heads, and two cabins to starboard and port, both aft. For racing you can add six floating bunks.

My vision is to offer a yacht that is fun to sail in a regatta like the Caribbean 600, a yacht that has the potential to win when racing with friends, and one that offers the pleasure of a nice sailing holiday with the family after the race series. But if you don’t want to compromise, then choose the pure race version. The AP45-R is the perfect fusion of technology and design. Tiller, grinder, inside almost nothing but a lot of fun during offshore racing.

Hull
Outside, the Aeolos P45 breaks with the mainstream. Her crisp, streamlined lines are designed to cut through the waves and eat the miles. The profile and proportions are unmistakably based on the Aeolos P30. Athletic with clear contours and powerful curves.

Below: The pure racing version of the Aeolos P45 concept has a stripped-out interior for a crew of six with adjustable pipe cots, a minimal galley with a single gas burner and a nav station with a generously sized chart table

In light winds this design has low wetted area and a very slender waterline. The circular forward sections offer maximum volume with small surface area when sailing upright.

This boat moves through the waves quite smoothly when heeled – the bow section always presents the same shape between 0-30 degrees of heel.

But the most powerful design aspect here is the flat stern section even when heeling. The near to zero exit angle of the stern lines when heeled, means the perfect planing shape. And at up to 30-degrees heel the keel weight works very effectively allowing you to fly your gennaker or code zero for longer than usual.

Form follows function
With the low, rounded sheerline and aerodynamic coachroof, but especially due to the hull shape in front of the mast, the Aeolos P45 presents considerably lower wind resistance than other yachts of similar size. In school I learned early: wind resistance increases as the square of speed! The sheerline can produce huge turbulence and drag, the wider the boat, the more this tends to be.

The P45 has a very high aspect fractional rig with the mast step aft and an enormous gennaker

Specifications

Aeolos P45

• luxury, reliable, light.
• single/double-handed (OSR2)
• inshore racing with six
• CE-Norm Category B (offshore)
• upgrade to A with additional equipment possible
• length: 13.6m (length overall: 15.94m)
• beam: 3.9m
• 4.05t empty but rigged boat without sails
• weight of keel bulb & fin: 2t
• ballast ratio: more than 50 per cent (2,000kg)
• draught: 2.9m
• draught with optional retractable keel: 2.9m - 1.6m
• mast height above waterline: 22.42m

Sail area (depends on the setup, ORC, IRC or One Design)

• jib 63 sqm (ORC)
• main 78 sqm (ORC)
• upwind 141 sqm (ORC)
• 272 sqm gennaker (ORC)

Rig

• tapered carbon mast
• carbon boom
• carbon bowsprit, foldable (in harbour) and removable (for transport)
• Halyard blocks: Gennaker (top), Code 0 (1:2, top), Main (1:2), Jib 1, Jib 2, Cutter stay

P: 19.44 m
E: 5.55 m
I: 17.93 m
J: 6.29m
I spin: 20.94 m
TPS: 9.08 m

Especially when heeling, our air flow onto the jib has less turbulence so on the Aeolos P45, the jib is much more effective due to employing more usable area. The coachroof has low wind resistance and keeps the water out of the cockpit. If you have to work on the bow in windy conditions you will love this angled deck, it offers an almost horizontal gangway when the boat heels.

To save weight, we went the route of using carbon prepregs extensively, postcured epoxy construction and Alexseal 501 finish instead of gelcoat. At the same time, we designed the structure as part of the interior and did not add an inner shell. The unique carbon keel structure – a keel box and keel made of unidirectional carbon fibre – provides improved stiffness and resistance at reduced weight. All structural hull parts are laminated into the hull, meaning the hull is truly one solid piece.

The new Notus NE7 prepreg system was developed by our sister company Notus Composites, also based in the UAE. The novel lowtemperature curing chemistry offers significant cost advantages and has allowed us to switch from the infusion lamination process without developing expensive new hightemperature tooling. The overall production cost is similar to or even lower than using vacuum infusion due to cost savings in the shop during application and cleaning... less waste and lower health and safety costs.

Keel
With a huge ballast ratio of 50 per cent, this boat gives you a new experience of speed. The T-keel consists of a full carbon fin with lead bulb for high strength and low centre of gravity. The keel build is totally encapsulated in unidirectional and multiaxial carbon with epoxy for maximum safety in case of grounding. The keel is securely bolted to the structural carbon keel box with stainless steel bolts. A retractable carbon T-Keel offering a draught range from 1.6-2.9m is an option.

Rudder System
The generously proportioned twin steering wheels offer plenty of security to control this beast in any situation. You can choose between double 'hump-back’ rudders (for long offshore races in average windspeed of 20kts, and very fast downwind) or a single rudder (which is ideal for an average windspeed of 12kts and is very fast upwind).

Click here for more information on Aeolos Composites »

There may not be an offshore medal on the menu at Paris 2024 but one of the favourites to be selected as the platform for the next Olympic Regatta has dusted itself down and is now steaming back into international prominence

How many yachts can you think of that combine 20-knot plus performance and one design racing in decent-sized fleets with Category A offshore certification and weekend accommodation for four people, but can also be trailed behind an average car? And how many of those can be rigged and launched by two people in a couple of hours, without needing a crane? When Rodion Luka went looking for a boat which could do all that, he couldn’t find anything suitable in production. There was a gap in the market, which he decided to fill and thus the L30 was born.

You may have heard about the L30 in 2019, when it was selected by World Sailing for the double-handed mixed offshore world championships and widely assumed to be a shoe-in for the (subsequently abandoned) offshore event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. But there’s a lot more to this nine-metre Swiss Army knife of a boat than that.

Despite being eminently suitable for twohanded racing, the L30 has the size of cockpit you’d expect to find on a 40-footer and for inshore windward-leeward racing it’s ideal for five or even six crew. Despite being built in glassfibre, not carbon fibre, it’s a ton lighter than almost any comparable boat on the market. It’s nimble enough for match racing too, with easily removable stanchions and a full 360° turning circle in just one and a half boat lengths. It’s also forgiving enough, with its runners lashed to the shrouds, to work well as a sailing school boat for novices.

It took three years to design and refine,’ Luka says. ‘Every detail has been very carefully thought out. The idea is not just to race but to sail for pleasure also. It must be easily trailable and it needs to have some accommodation inside because if you build a pure racing boat, no matter how successful it is, in three, five or seven years’ time the class will die anyway.’ Looking to the future, the L30 was developed from the outset with three stages of life in mind. First, as a highperformance one design class offering fleet racing and international competition for teams of amateur sailors. Second, as a teaching platform for sailing schools and also as a club racer on a local level. And then, third, as a lively but easy-to-handle family cruising yacht for private and charter use.

On Russell Coutts’ recommendation Luka commissioned the naval architect Andrej Justin, who designed the RC44, to develop his concept and design the L30. ‘A minivan that must perform like a GT car and fit in a motorbike shed’ is how Justin describes the end result. ‘A project with many contradictory requests ended up with a great sailing boat – a family yacht suitable for one design racing and corporate sailing.’

Below: Sailing upwind at 5kts or more, the trim tab delivers a significant performance boost. The slender hull is almost as fast upwind in waves as it is on flat water

Practical performance
The L30 is a very different boat to the RC44, of course, but they do have some design features in common and their key parameters are strongly informed by practical considerations. They’re both notably slender with vertical topsides, a flat bottom and a tight turn of the bilge, but while the RC44 is shaped to fit snugly in a 40ft shipping container, the L30’s 2.54m (8ft4in) beam is dictated by European road trailer regulations. They both have a very high ballast ratio – 43.4 for the L30 – rather than relying on form stability, water ballast or crew weight for righting moment, and have a trim tab on the trailing edge of the keel fin to boost upwind performance and give more control when going downwind in heavy weather. ‘As soon as you’re sailing upwind at more than 5kts the trim tab works very well,’ Luka explains. ‘And the L30 goes upwind at 6.8kts, or 7kts on flat water.’ That’s pretty good for a boat with a theoretical hull speed of 7.4kts.

The L30’s narrow beam makes it easily driven upwind in waves and it planes readily downwind, thanks to its flat bottom, at just 8kts of boatspeed and in 12-13kts of breeze. Luka has logged almost 25kts on a reach in rough seas with 33kts of wind; he says 21kts is quite easily achieved by an amateur crew with average skills. Upwind and down, the boat is designed to sail with a heel angle of 18°, which is enough to get some functional benefit from its hard-chined aft quarters. This (along with the sheer size of the gennaker) explains the choice of twin rudders. ‘It’s almost impossible to broach an L30,’ Luka says. ‘You would have to be doing something special.’ The boat also performs well in light airs, with 2.8kts of boatspeed in 1.9kts of wind. The control lines for the lifting keel and trim tab are led up through the keel trunk and aft to the halyard winches on the coachroof. The keel is secured with two pins and one quick-release bolt, and lifted on an 8:1 purchase, reducing the boat’s draught from around 1.9m to less than 60cm. A longer keel fin is available as an optional extra, adding a further 35cm of draught and upping the L30’s RCD rating from Category B to Category A. ‘It’s easy to change keel fins on the trailer, without taking the mast out,’ Luka says. ‘The standard keel is used for one design racing but we have plans for transatlantic fleet racing with the longer keel fin.’ An add-on fairing has also been developed to optimise the keel fin chord for ORC, which favours a lower aspect ratio. The rudders are transom-hung and their blades can be lifted too. On longer races and offshore passages the windward rudder can be raised to reduce drag.

Low cost logistics
One of the most important design criteria was to keep maintenance and logistical costs as low as possible. While the boat and its rig can fit into a shipping container, RC44 style, Luka says that it’s generally cheaper and easier to ship the L30 on its trailer in a Ro-Ro vessel. The carbon mast is deck-stepped to reduce its overhang on a road trailer, and the spreaders are swept back 30° so the boat can be cruised without runners. The headsails are on furlers to minimise the time they spend flogging, giving them a much longer life.

One of the L30’s unusual features is the huge size of its cockpit – ideal for racing with a full crew onboard

Multi-role boat

The man behind the concept, Ukrainian pro racing sailor Rodion Luka, has been an Olympic silver medalist and world champion in the 49er class, a coach on the RC44 circuit and a Volvo Ocean Race helmsman. He came up with the idea for the L30 in 2012 after founding the Kyiv Racing Yacht Club, which runs corporate team-building sailing events, a sailing school and a bareboat charter cruising business as well as a programme of regattas for club members. The versatility required to fulfil all of these different roles with a single type of boat is what lies at the heart of the L30’s DNA.

Many of the components have double or triple uses. For example the padeyes for the jib sheets are used for the mast lifting system, the bowsprit serves as a gin pole when stepping the rig and the bolt eye on top of the lifting keel is designed to take the weight of the boat when launching with a crane. Lines are taken to the aft mooring cleats for stability and it’s ballasted to hang slightly bow down, keeping the mast clear of the crane.

It’s unusual to have twin wheels on a boat like this, but Luka explains that they broaden its appeal. Every year, more than 1,500 people have their first taste of sailing at his Kyiv Racing Yacht Club and he has noticed that when they’ve been on a boat with a wheel, rather than a tiller, they are three times more likely to return for a follow-up session.

L30s are built in Ukraine by Otis Tarda, which won’t be a familiar name to most Seahorse readers but, as a major supplier of composite parts to aero, auto and hi-tech medical clients, plus a wide range of other industries, the quality of its production is assured. However, while the situation with the war in Ukraine remains serious, a second production facility is due to be opened at Oceantec Boatyard in Slovenia, where there is a second set of moulds.

The whole boat is foam-cored vinylester sandwich construction, giving an all-up sailing displacement of just 2,200kg. ‘The total hull weight is 700kg including the deck and everything inside that’s made of GRP,’ Luka says. ‘It’s about one ton lighter than any similar boat on the market and that extra ton equals six tons of CO2, so the L30 is probably the most sustainable 30ft sailing boat in the world.’

The class has been growing steadily, with 34 boats delivered to 13 countries thus far and one design fleets racing in the US, Germany, Hungary and Ukraine. There were 14 teams from eight nations at last year’s Europeans and at least 20 are expected for this year’s event at Sanremo, Italy, 12-16 October. Plans are also afoot for charter fleets in Ukraine, the US and the Middle East.

Click here for more information on L30 Class »

ClubSwan Racing did a brilliant job delivering a super-successful 2021 racing season after all of the global challenges... 2022 is promising to be just as good

Get ready for more of the same. Following a successful 2021 racing season with a series of memorable regattas in world class venues, ClubSwan Racing has unveiled its 2022 calendar, offering another season of fierce and friendly competition.

Racing has been in Swan’s DNA since the beginning and Nautor’s Swan regattas are eagerly awaited by owners and crews. The key to success of these ClubSwan Racing events – for both rating and one design fleets – is the dedication of a vastly qualified team led by highly experienced Federico Michetti, head of sports activities at ClubSwan Racing.

The 2022 one design calendar will see large gatherings of Swans at some of the best places to sail in the Mediterranean, selected by the ClubSwan Racing team to offer great competition out on the racecourse, alongside fun, entertainment and top-level facilities ashore for Swan owners and Nautor’s Swan partners.

The four one design classes – namely the ClubSwan 50, Swan 45, ClubSwan 42 and ClubSwan 36 – will kick off their season with a competitive start at the Tuscany Challenge from April 26 -30. Organised with the Yacht Club Isole di Toscana, the beautiful setting of Marina di Scarlino in the Gulf of Follonica is known as a sailors’ paradise for the amazing conditions it offers in terms of racing and weather. The teams will have the chance to meet and train in the same venue at a warm-up event from March 25 -27.

The fleet will then head to the Sardinia Challenge and the crystalclear waters of Villasimius, on the breezy south-east tip of the island, from May 31- June 04. Based in the world-class Marina Di Villasimius the fleet will be racing in spectacular conditions against the backdrop of Capo Carbonara and in the waters of the Marine Protected Area, in effect an Italian national park and marine nature reserve.

Spain will host the third edition of the Swan One Design Worlds, from July 5 - 9 in Valencia, a well-known venue and yacht club (the Real Club Nautico de Valencia) but a new location for the Swan One Design Circuit. The fleet then heads to the Copa del Rey in Palma de Mallorca from August 1 - 6, a must-do for the Swan racing circuit.

‘The Swan One Design Circuit this year comes to some of the most appealing racing courses in the world. We chose Scarlino as our home and we added the two new locations of Villasimius in splendid Sardinia and Valencia for the World Championship. Each of these venues offers all the ingredients that make an event successful sport wise and fun wise. Valencia will be the stage to crown the world champions of each one design class and we are very excited about it,’ says Michetti.

‘We will then head to Palma de Mallorca for the Copa del Rey, another milestone in our calendar. Nautor and the RCNP have a longterm partnership and this, together with having a great number of Swans competing and the professionalism of the team at the Real Club Náutico de Palma are just a few of the things that make us feel at home. The vibe will be great this year too and we are all excited and looking forward to start.’

Meanwhile, 2022 is also the year of one of the most important events of the Nautor’s Swan brand, the biennial Rolex Swan Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Nautor’s Swan together with its longstanding partner Rolex, from September 11 - 18 in the amazing setting of Porto Cervo, Sardinia.

Hosted on even years in one of the best venues in the world, the 21st edition of this unmissable regatta has all the elements to be spectacular: an international fleet, an array of passionate owners who are talented sailors, pros and amateurs, a stunning yacht club and a title sponsor known for the excellence of its products. The Rolex Swan Cup is a tradition, a weeklong feast of sportsmanship, camaraderie and spirited racing.

Above: the very fast Nautor one design ClubSwan 50, also goes from strength to strength. More than 20 boats are expected at the start line of this year’s events.
Below: the first of the ClubSwan one design racing classes was the Swan 45, launched back in 2002 and still actively raced today

‘The Rolex Swan Cup is one of the pinnacle events by Nautor’s Swan, and after the cancellation of the 2020 edition we are amazed by the response we’ve already had in terms of participation,’ says Giovanni Pomati, Nautor Group CEO.

‘Having all generations of Swans participating in one venue is something inspiring and thrilling for us. It’s like watching a movie of the evolution of our brand over the decades with the same elements of quality, performance, innovation, reliability and elegance that make a Swan unique.’

However, Porto Cervo does not mark the end of the racing season for the smallest yachts in the Nautor’s Swan family. The ClubSwan 36 fleet will move on to Split in Croatia, from October 4 - 8, where they will compete for the ClubSwan 36 Europeans title for the first time.

The remarkable development of one design and handicap racing at Nautor’s Swan stems from the inspiration of its chairman Leonardo Ferragamo, and his vision to position the brand as one of the leaders in the sports field.

The vision started to become a reality with the launch of the Swan 45 in 2002, the ClubSwan 42 in 2006, then the game-changing ClubSwan 50 in 2016 and the innovative ClubSwan 36 launched in 2019, which is also available with a hybrid propulsion unit. The brand continues to grow with the revolutionary ClubSwan 125 – which claimed line honours in her first regatta, the Rolex Fastnet Race – and the brand new ClubSwan 80, expected to be launched this spring.

Alongside the Swan One Design Racing Calendar – which has been carefully compiled not to overlap with major ORC events – ClubSwan Racing has also created a number of regional multi-event Swan Series, intended to bring the community of Swan owners together at competitive events in their region, and to recognise the best-performing boats across the season.

The Swan Series portfolio comprises the Solent Series, Baltic Series, North American Series and the Mediterranean Series. Each series brings together a number of iconic racing events in the relevant regions with, for example, the 2022 Mediterranean Series consisting of the Tre Golfi Sailing Week (Sorrento May 14 - 21), Rolex Giraglia (St Tropez, June 10 - 18), the ORC Worlds (Porto Cervo, June 22 - 30), and Les Voiles de Saint Tropez (September 24 - October 8).

The 2022 Solent Series, the Round the Island Race (June 25), Taittinger RSYC Regatta (July 22 - 24) and Cowes Week (July 30 - August 5).

Taken together with the Swan Maxi Series, with regatta locations in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, ClubSwan Racing presents the passionate community of Swan owners and sailors with a spectacular range of competitive events, offering something for everyone involved. 2022 looks set to be a year to remember.

Click here for more information on Nautor’s Swan »