ClubSwan80 - Matt Sheahan gets aboard

Swan's latest 80ft carbon rocket ship might not be the largest that this world famous company has built, but many believe the ClubSwan 80 is Swan's most ambitious project yet. Their goal to create an 80ft owner/driver one design set the bar extremely high from the start. Matt Sheahan was invited out to join the crew to report from aboard My Song as they prepared for their very first event.
00:00 ClubSwan 80 - What’s the big deal?
01:12 Why Swan’s ambitious plan could work
02:14 First impressions onboard
03:42 Designer Juan Kouyoumdjian
07:25 Why a one design? Leonardo Ferragamo
09:47 Owner Pierluigi Loro Piana on why My Song is different
10:51 Deck tour
14:55 Below decks - Accommodation tour
20:20 Designing the interior - Nauta’s Martino Majno explains
22:02 First race
22:41 First thoughts - North Sails Ken Read
23:33 Conclusions
Facebook - @planetsail.org
Website - www.planetsail.co.uk
Twitter - matthewsheahan
Linkedin - www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-sheahan

[@hurri7720]

One of the great advantages of a one design is the democracy in racing and the way they keep their value due to that.

[@Gigantasy]

No race boat should be without a carbon fiber bidet.

[@Antipodean33]

Pity the owner didn't mention bringing her here to Oz for the Sydney to Hobart, like to see that

[@C0N72]

It'd be a bit in no man's land for a Hobart. It's not going to keep up with the 100 footers, and I doubt she rates well enough to beat the tp52s on handicap. So I'm not so sure exactly what she'd achieve unless you had a boat like Wild Oats X (which from memory is 80ft) to race against.

[@Antipodean33]

@@C0N72 It would all come down to handicap i suppose. I wonder what that would be

[@ScottSummerill]

What was that doohickey attached to the boom at time stamp 6:18?

[@bpetersson5024]

thats like an F1 boat, fast in Olympic course races, but long distance offshore stuff? at bit optimistic, I would say, and going weekend sailing with the family is not very likely...but the disappointment is in the look/design. It has no "feel" or classical lines to it. The boat serves it purpose in competing three times a season but what do you do the rest of the year? I looks like a lunar capsule... I am a great fan of Swan 65s, and like the look for sweeping lines and going through storms without worrying about the boat. This is different.

[@osptony]

I have named specific boats in this question, however I am not interest in a specific comparison. In terms of performance would you please briefly compare a Bella Mente like boat to a Club Swan 80 My Song like vessel, then the same comparison for a Andoo Comanche like boat to a Club Swan Skorpios. I am trying to stay FAR away from comparing the actual vessels, and very much wondering about performance of their like. Thank you. Love your vids.

[@markcampbell7577]

The keeled headsails would double the sail power and she could sail up right. Without as much weight. A lighter sailboat design with more sail area. What? Seaworthy design is faster.

[@jdubs8964]

Essentially it’s like Scorpio’s but a bit smaller?

[@alamos8]

I'm no expert at all, but what I don't get with this fast designs that use so much apparent wind for speed is: if the apparent wind will be almost always inside a +/- 90° from the bow, and sailing a 70° TWA is translatdd to a 30° AWA, that does mean the yatch cannot navigate inside a +/- 70° true angle from the wind? In other words, these kind of machines cannot go close hauled at less that 70° TWA? That would mean a LOT of tacking to reach your dstination sometimes, or just motoring

[@PlanetSailOnline]

Like any other boat, when they go on the wind they sail more slowly so the apparent wind direction isn't affected so much. (The apparent wind speed increases as now they are going into it.) Off the wind they sail much fast and bring the apparent wind forward. In short, these boats sail just as close, often closer, to the wind as any other.

[@hurri7720]

Not to be rude but that was very funny.

[@hurri7720]

Let me help alamos8 a bit. Flat downwind is slow, this is nothing new, so what you try to do to gain time is to tack downwind to increase speed and gain time (while adding distance). The mathematics is very simple but in offshore racing it's not easy to grasp, to get the numbers right for the maths.
How much more speed do I get changin my direction with x degrees to gain on it. This yacht is apparently well tuned to make that downwind tacking efficient.
And it will not make it poor for tacking upwind either at all.

[@nudsh]

Starting at a scant $30 Million! The everyday boat for everyone!

[@jonklestadt3061]

OK! Here we go again. With the greatest respect, and despite the comments of the designer, a canting keel on a boat like this will NOT reduce the draft to allow the boat to access shallower ports or cruising grounds. With no opposing lateral forces in the rig, canting the keel will just tip the hull as the lead does what it does best - follow the laws of gravity and point towards the centre of the Earth. Even looking at the graphic at 1.00 minute into the video you can see that the reduction in draft with the boat upright is minimal, maybe a metre plus or minus I would guess; but with no pressure from the rig you can see that the boat's hull would just rotate around it's lateral centre of buoyancy, tilting the deck to a very uncomfortable extent, and reducing the 'saving' of draft to a few centimetres. Please stop pushing this nonsense. And yes, I have raced a canting keel boat, with a maximum cant of 34 degrees, for about 5 years.

[@barbanegracaptain4153]

🤦🏻‍♂️ No

[@PlanetSailOnline]

Also with respect...while you are correct that canting the keel will not reduce the amount the boat draws, that's not the point the designer was making. Canting the keel is not in itself intended to reduce draft. A canting keel creates a lot more righting moment (which creates power) more efficiently. To achieve this extra amount of righting moment (and hence power) with a conventional fixed keel the boat would need to have a much deeper keel.

[@jonklestadt3061]

​@@PlanetSailOnline We are in furious agreement, but that is NOT what Juan K is says at 3.50 to 4.30 on the video. He compares the canting keel on the Swan 80 with a lifting keel and he says that he prefers the canting keel because it reduces complexity and adds to the performance potential of the boat and..."it is not something that you use just to get into the harbour." That is the issue I was raising; many people might think that a canting keel can reduce draught..it doesn't. And as someone who has been involved in the design and construction of a canting keel boat and sailed her into and out of restricted depth harbours, I know what I'm talking about.

[@fritzmuller4865]

@@jonklestadt3061 I think that is very true, the purpose of a canting keel is simply to improve sailing, nothing else, but than the issue is minor miss understanding isn't it;)

[@hurri7720]

@@jonklestadt3061 , then again it will slightly, think of a pendulum, but that is indeed not the point.