Boat Test: ClubSwan 43
Sam Fortescue meets the ClubSwan 43, first of a new racer-cruiser concept.
When Swan raised the curtain on a new mid-sized ClubSwan yacht at the 2022 Cannes boat show, it was pitched as a new breed of cross-over regatta boat. It was to be highly competitive around the racecourse, optimised for ORC rating but also capable of making a comfortable cruising base for family or friends. Oh, and it was to be 41ft long and built at the UK’s Fibre Mechanics.
These last two characteristics later changed, with the boat growing to 43ft loa and production moving to Finland. Nonetheless, the concept harking back to a golden era of cruiser-racers remained the same. “The brief was to bring back the past habits of families, participating to the Copa del Rey for a week of intense racing, and then relaxing the week after on a cruise around the Balearics with their families and friends,” said Federico Michetti, head of sports activities at Nautor Swan, and CS43 product manager.
Besides the undoubted racing nous of Michetti, who led the project, Swan turned once again to Valencia-based Juan K as naval architect. They also brought in Pure for the engineering and entrusted the interior to Lucio Micheletti, who has been taking a growing role recently in the design of Swan’s cruising line.
The result of this collaboration finally bore fruit in the summer of 2024 when Swan launched the first hull in Pietersaari, Finland. It is a long way to go for a boat test, but then this is a very intriguing boat. And although there were only white sails on board on test day (the North 3Di Raw sails had been delayed in customs), and a strict interdiction on photos showing said white sails, it felt like a worthwhile journey. Here’s why.
Looks the part
First up, this is a very cool looking boat. The bowsprit is a punchy 1.5m – adding more than 10 per cent to the length on deck. There’s plenty of tumblehome along the edge of the deck, but very planar, not curved. In fact, every edge from the coaming to the coachroof has the same slightly military look, as if a giant adze had been used to remove the right angles.
There’s the open transom you’d expect, along with the overhanging side deck, and stout matt-black stanchions. A broad cockpit sports small twin wheels mounted on modest arms that are totally bereft of electronics. As we’ll discover as soon as we get under way, the helmsperson wants to sit out on the side deck, with the guardwires cradling their back. Running backstays are fitted, but they’re fastened forward against the lower shrouds. It’s clear from the aft rake of the spreaders that the runners are not needed unless you’re really cracking on.
A high modulus carbon fibre mast towers overhead, with a matching boom – both from Axxon. There’s quality deck gear from Harken, and twin Sailmon displays at the foot of the mast, and PBO standing rigging, as with the other Swan one designs.
Getting in gear
This far north, not far from the Arctic Circle, it feels as if the sun is a fleeting visitor. Nonetheless, it is beating down on the day of my test, with just a few knots of pine-scented breeze for company. When combined with the white sails, it feels like a scant workout for a boat billed as a race winner.
As we motored out of the marina, the 40hp Yanmar easily pushing us up to 7kts, it was evident that there was a little more breeze at the edge of the archipelago. It was just enough to get a sense of the boat’s capabilities as we hunted for pressure between the islands. The headlines are respectable enough. In 8kts of true wind (TWS), we managed 6.5kts of boat speed, close hauled at around 45 degrees true wind angle. In 7kts TWS, boat speed dropped to 5.7-6.0kts. The bigger, square-top main and jib in North 3Di would undoubtedly have helped us here.
With neither code sail nor asymmetric on board, the offwind performance naturally suffered as well. The best we managed was about 6kts sailing at 135 degrees in a slightly stiffer 12kt breeze. In our mild conditions, the helm remained as light as a feather, with fingertip control. Even in the ‘gusts’, the boat would heel hard – up to 40 degrees for a short while, before the light hull translated that into extra speed. The acceleration was noticeable, but the helm remained a delight. “The feeling is of a big dinghy, but it as comfortable and fun as a yacht,” said Michetti. “We are hoping to have 10 yachts by the time of the Nations League 2025.”
Lay-up
The ClubSwan 43 tries to strike a balance between performance and price, so it is not built in keel-to-masthead carbonfibre, like some of the Swan maxis. Quality is second to none, though, as you’d expect. The hull achieves good stiffness using vinylester with carbonfibre reinforcements in key load areas. It was originally slated to measure 41ft, in order to qualify as ORC category A, but then a change in the rules made it possible to push that out to 43ft.
The hull features a 2.40m bulb keel set against its 118.2sq m sail area upwind. But in order to maximise rating under ORC, there are pockets in the keel containing up to 300kg of removable lead weights that you can offload while the boat hangs in the slings. “The keel is very cool, with a thin bulb at the foot that helps you go upwind,” enthuses Vanni Galgani, head of product marketing at Swan. “It’s a crowded market, so we had to come up with something different.”
Deck design was the focus of a big study to get the best result for cruising and for racing. This has led to lots of little unexpected tweaks, such as the way the wheels are turned five degrees in towards the centreline. “It looks strange, but it works,” says Michetti. “It makes them better for holding from the side.” And he’s right.
“I am also very proud of the ergonomics of the cockpit – there’s a lot of space, so you can push the boat very hard.” Six big sheet winches bristle along the edge of the cockpit coaming, with two more halyard winches either side of the companionway. All lines come back here, including the German mainsheet which runs round a sheeting point well aft of the helms.
ClubSwan 43: Below deck
You don’t get far with claims to have a cruisable race boat if the interior doesn’t come up to snuff. And Micheletti’s design for the comfy bits mostly hits the right notes. The woody companionway steps deliver you into a bright saloon that blends gleaming white glassfibre sole and headlining with plenty of woody cabinetry.
There’s a galley worthy of the name, to port, featuring a gimballing oven and hob, a medium-size top-opening fridge and sink, plus a decent array of storage. A fold-down teak table further forward makes sensible use of the gleaming mirror-polished mast support, and there are comfy white sofas on either side which would double very well as extra berths. The two slim hull lights are located here too.
The pick of the three double cabins is the open fo’c’s’le, which is divided from the saloon by a half bulkhead, and benefits from a couple of overhead hatches. A removable door and frame are available to make this space more private. Two aft cabins offer a minimum of floorspace to get your kit off and slide into bed. Open shelves and fabric-lined hanging space probably wouldn’t keep you going for a week – at least not with free-range children like mine, but there is plenty of additional storage tucked around the boat – notably under the saloon seating.
There’s a single shower room to starboard, mirroring the size and position of the galley. It’s decently finished in white, with a shower, basin and electric heads. There’s no chart table as such, but the chartplotter handles navigation, digital switching and entertainment from a position set into the panelling behind the port sofa. A Fusion control head is in the same spot on the other side.
Race mode on
Part of the smart design of this boat is to make many elements removable or modular to help the transition between cruising and racing modes. Much of the interior comfort can be stripped out, for example. This includes obvious elements such as the table, mattresses and fabric wardrobe boxes, but also the headlining panels, Webasto diesel heater, high lockers in the galley and the beds in the aft cabins. “It adds up to 180kg of wood alone,” says Michetti. “Even the hatch frame comes out!”
Out on deck, you can switch masthead fittings without dropping the mast or taking the boat out of the water. A cruising masthead allows for a single fixed backstay instead of the twin runners needed for racing. At the other end of the boat, the bowsprit can also be swapped out – a shorter one with an anchor roller for cruising, the longer one for flying downwind sails in race conditions.
When the pressure’s on, with headsails whizzing up and down, you’ll appreciate the considered approach to sail management in the stripped-down interior. “Headsails come down through the foredeck hatch on a rope attached to blocks on the forward bulkhead and the portside aft cabin. Even the tap lowers so as not to snag the sails.
Swan family
You’re not simply buying a boat if you decide to shell out the more-than €820,000 this boat costs. You’re booking a place in Swan’s growing one-design regatta series. There are races in the Baltic, the UK and the US, but the main event is the Nation’s League, held around the Mediterranean throughout the summer. The expectation is that there will be some 10 ClubSwan 43s on the water and enrolled by the start of the 2025 season – no mean feat. Michetti estimates the cost of campaigning the boat at €200-€300k per year.
Pros:
Fantastic looks
Thoroughly optimised hull and rig
Decent cruising potential
Cons:
Expensive
No nav station
No plotter on deck
ClubSwan 43: Sam’s Verdict
It was a lot of fun sailing the ClubSwan 43. She took off fast in spite of our being eight up and wearing Dacron sails in light winds. A flexible and carefully thought-out rig offers plenty of power with good deck layout for ease of handling. The interior is certainly a step up from that of a stripped-down racer, and you could enjoy a cruise with the right planning and logistics to get stuff on and off the boat. Luxury it isn’t, however, the more so as production cruisers stretch to ever more creature comforts. All boats are a compromise and in the end, the success of this one will come down to performance in race conditions. Participation in Swan one-design events guarantees a lot of competitive fun in parts of the Med that also invite family cruising. It’ll be very interesting to see how she does in ORC events. Six have already been sold.
Comfort: 3/5
Blue Water: 3/5
Looks: 5/5
Alternative Boats
J/45
Designed for short-handed ocean racing and fast bluewater cruising, J/Boats’ flagship is longer on luxury than its smaller sisters with a full interior sleeping up to six. Designed for excellent light airs performance and capable in a blow.
From £440,000 ex-VAT
Italia Yachts 12.98
Designed by Cossutti to have the slipperiest of hulls, the boats is ergonomic and fun to race, with plenty of slick Italian comfort below for cruising. The racier Fuoriserie variant has carbonfibre spars and a bigger sail area.
€220,000 ex-VAT
First 44
Beneteau’s ‘fast brand’ is more cruiser than racer at this size, but still capable of exciting performance. Water ballast, rig and keel options allow you to tune the boat for racing, but there is a lot of weight in the detailed interior. Price is a very decent from €360,680 ex-VAT.
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