Yachting World’s Toby Hodges sails the radical new ClubSwan 125 Skorpios and gives you a tour. Skorpios is the largest entrant in the Fastnet ever and took line honours weeks after launch in 2021It\u2019s tricky to gauge speed and scale against anything else when you have to sail a few miles offshore to avoid dredging the English Channel. Nevertheless, sailing onboard the new ClubSwan 125, I could tell that great stretches of the UK\u2019s coastline, passages that would normally drag by over hours, were ripping past at a velocity that made me question my knowledge of known landmarks.
\nAboard Skorpios, the imposing new ClubSwan 125, we\u2019re not talking outright silly peak speeds, but more the sheer unrelenting consistency of the high speeds. At 140ft including bowsprit, Skorpios is, by any scale, a beast which, under its substantial sail area, becomes an uncompromising, fiendishly powerful mile-muncher.
\nStanding at the windward helm when powered up feels so high above the water it\u2019s akin to leaning out of a second storey window. And with over 20 top professional crew sitting on the rail in front of you it is an awesome, slightly terrifying and utterly captivating experience.
\nHowever, this is not a Swan built for helming pleasure, rather with a ruthless brief to be the first monohull home in the big offshore races and to rewrite ocean records.
\nSkorpios is skippered by the Spanish Olympic Tornado gold medallist Fernando Ech\u00e1varri,\u00a0 a former Volvo Ocean Race skipper.
\nThe adrenalin of sailing the ClubSwan 125 Skorpios is perhaps heightened by the fear of the unknown: everything about this yacht seems to be on another scale altogether. This is, by some margin, the biggest offshore racing monohull, and certainly the largest ever racing Swan. It boasts possibly the deepest draught non-lifting keel (7.4m) and the largest sailplan combination ever conceived. In short, Skorpios is a seemingly limitless source of superlatives.
\nSkorpios is the largest monohull to have raced in the Fastnet Race to date, and, as its designer Juan Kouyoumdjian pointed out with a certain glee, it has been issued with the highest IRC rating ever awarded.
\nNot that handicaps will be of concern \u2013 it\u2019s out for line honours only. That it duly succeeded at such a task at the first time of asking is all the more impressive considering the gun for this year\u2019s particularly boisterous Fastnet start was fired just two months after the boat splashed.
\nThis was also the first offshore race for the yacht\u2019s owner Dmitry Rybolovlev. Sometimes it takes an ambitious owner with a substantial chequebook to make a meaningful step forward in design and engineering, and produce a ripple effect in technology.
\nIn the case of ClubSwan 125 Skorpios it was Russian businessman and philanthropist Rybolovlev who fell for the idea of a record breaker after tasting racing victory on his ClubSwan 50. The contract was signed in February 2017 and, four years and a pandemic later, his near three times larger version was wheeled out of Nautor\u2019s famous Pietarsaari yard.
\nJust a month after its June launch, and during an intense work up period before the Fastnet, I was invited to join Skorpios for a day\u2019s race training.
\nScience project
\nThe isle of Portland is one of the few safe ports around the English Channel with a deep enough berth for Skorpios. From Dorset\u2019s Jurassic Coast cliffs miles to the west, a single mast stands out on the horizon and as I approach through the commercial dockyard, the scale of Skorpios seems to keep increasing. It\u2019s simply enormous, unlike any other yacht I have seen.
\nEnough sail? Skorpios off the Dorset coast. The ClubSwan 125 is named after owner Rybolovlev\u2019s famous Greek island, where Jackie Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nTesting systems and sea trialling for race prep takes a significant amount of sea room on a craft of this size. Thankfully we have ideal 17-22 knot conditions to encourage a long day afloat.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to stay two to three miles offshore and sail down to the Isle of Wight,\u201d Fernando Ech\u00e1varri announces to the crew. The quietly spoken team skipper, a Spanish Olympic Tornado champion, assembled a crack team around him during the build and seems to have the unflappable composure needed for such an endeavour.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
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I crane my neck as 660m2 of black 3Di mainsail is hoisted up a mast that scales 59m from the waterline, high enough for the enormous 5.5m gaff of the squaretop to be in a totally different weather system.
\n\u201cThis boat\u2019s a real science project,\u201d says Miles Seddon, reading my mind as he joins me on the aft quarter rail. The British pro navigator has stepped aboard to give some local knowledge during the Fastnet build-up.
\n\u201cThere are so many systems, load sensors, fibre optics etc all trying to integrate\u2026 and all are logged at 10Hz so everyone can monitor it (aboard and ashore).\u201d
\nThe giant ClubSwan always sails heeled and the apparent wind never really goes aft of 80\u00ba. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nWith loads too high for human power onboard the ClubSwan 125, the grunt is all left to hydraulic pumps to drive winches and movable appendages. Hence the ability to monitor all loads constantly is reassuring and educational.
\nNevertheless, I recognise many of the faces of the international crew who have amassed dozens of America\u2019s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and Olympic wins between them. The size of this craft and its level of tech places it in a high-risk category, so the ability to sail this \u2018project\u2019 safely and to the optimum, particularly with such a short training period, requires all their skill and experience.
\nKey crewmembers talk sporadically through their headsets, which are covered by neck scarves to try to protect against apparent winds that are typically gale force. It\u2019s all coded language, acronyms and target talk \u2013 we are in test pilot territory here.
\nthrill of a lifetime as YW\u2019s Toby Hodges gets behind the wheel. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nAs 1,300m2 of A3 (asymmetric spinnaker) is unfurled we accelerate from a 10 knot canter straight to the high teens. Then out come the J4 (jib) and IRS \u2013 the bright orange sail which rates as a storm jib \u2013 to fill the large slots and Skorpios is immediately into the 20s.
\nI record the angles and speeds throughout the day and, looking through these later, it\u2019s their consistency at which I marvel. \u201cWe are sailing with nearly 2,400m2 in a 59-tonne boat \u2013 so it\u2019s pretty powerful!\u201d Ech\u00e1varri remarks. Indeed the sail area to displacement ratio of 67.8 is mind boggling.
\n50% Movable ballast
\n\u201cDesigning a racing sailboat, able to reach a speed in the region of 15 knots upwind and that will always be faster than the wind speed downwind is something unique,\u201d comments Juan K.
\nThe Argentinian designer, who was aboard for our trial, explains that he chose a canting keel in order to keep the displacement under 60 tonnes, which allowed for the necessary righting moment with a smaller bulb.
\nHowever, this was not always the plan. The ClubSwan 125 was originally conceived by Nautor as more as a performance cruiser-racer with teak decks and a full interior.
\nThe decision to remove these saved an estimated six tonnes immediately. And once the owner said he wanted to go really fast, the design was continually re-evaluated. The original keel proposal was a complex telescopic\/canting mechanism, so replacing that saved another 2.5 tonnes. The interior was also adapted, designed by Adriana Monk to be very minimalist and practical for offshore sailing.
\nThe canting angle of the keel increased from 38\u00b0 to 42\u00b0 and a trim tab was added. The potential lift and righting moment benefits this can give were one of the areas the crew were looking at during our sail.
\nsailing triple-headed makes for a lot of halyard tails and sheets to keep tidy. The smart dodger was a late addition, for protection and to keep the companionway dry. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\n\u201cWith a canting keel you need another appendage to produce the required side force. That is provided here by a C-foil, a hydrodynamic asymmetrical foil, but symmetrical from port to starboard, that can be tacked each side of the boat,\u201d Juan K explains.
\nHe estimates that this is less weight than two daggerboards and can help the boat reach a \u2018skimming\u2019 attitude when reaching. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t give you the performance of side foils, but without the C-foil there would be 5-7\u00b0 leeway. With the foil, there is zero or even negative leeway with the keel canted.\u201d
\nThen there is also the equivalent weight of an average 40ft cruising yacht in water ballast, housed in 5,000lt and 3,000lt tanks each side. These take 45 seconds to fill and 30 seconds to transfer from one side to another.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s righting moment without the weight in light airs,\u201d Juan K elaborates. When more than half the weight of the boat can be shifted from side to side, pushing the correct buttons becomes imperative.
\nAfter a couple of hours in downwind mode, we\u2019re now somewhere south of the Island and furl to gybe. An army of muscle manhandles the trunk of furled A3 onto the deck and into a bag so it can be lifted by halyard and deposited across the aft deck in preparation for the first upwind leg.
\nIt is while briefly parked like this that the alien noises, reverberations and discomfort start. Every element of this craft is designed around speed, so restrained like this, the giant Skorpios groans and shudders like a tethered animal and the raw vibrations are felt right through to the aft deck.
\nClubSwan 125 weight and windage
\nWe\u2019re given a steady 20 knots true for our first beat, which is on the limit of a reef in this sea state. Yet with or without a reef, we still average 14 knots at 25\u00b0 to the apparent wind.
\nThe single C-shape daggerboard is moved hydraulically from side to side to negate leeway and when fully retracted still sticks out by 80-90cm. Sensors continually inform the crew about the loads on the board. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nThe harmony of the rig and sail package on the ClubSwan 125 is impressive. Southern Spars designed the high modulus mast, 60ft boom and 23ft reaching strut in combination with sister company North Sails and its Helix structured luff technology. The company says it\u2019s one of the most advanced rig packages it has ever delivered.
\nThe tack points were originally designed to take much higher loads, but the advances in structural luff technology and load sharing means that these point loads have greatly reduced, project manager Bob Wylie tells me. \u201cThe J2 was originally designed for 45 tonnes, yet the current tack load is around 25 tonnes.\u201d
\nFuture Fibres\u2019 Aerosix rigging minimises windage. \u201cConsidering the speeds and the close apparent wind angles you\u2019re sailing at, everything contributes to speed,\u201d comments Ech\u00e1varri, who is most impressed with the comparative reduction in vibration this rigging brings.
\nThe highly raked mast can be finely tuned with checkstay and backstay deflectors. \u201cTo set all the sails needs a bit of play between the mainsheet trimmer and the runner trimmer,\u201d Ech\u00e1varri explains.
\n\u201cThe J0, which is tacked to the bowsprit, is 550m2. So with the 660m2 main we can go upwind with about 1,200m2, which is a big load!\u201d the skipper exclaims. Occasionally we slam through or over a wave and the vibration is gut wrenching.
\nOtherwise, however, it\u2019s comparatively quiet speed sailing, with hardly any noticeable wake, just the firehose of a rooster tail spraying from the stern as Skorpios planes along continuously like a giant 49er.
\nTwin rudders are used for control as Skorpios always sails heeled. These have Juan-K\u2019s trademark sawtooth profile which he compares to the tubercles of a whale. They are designed to limit drag when dipping in and out of the water and to prevent the blades from stalling.
\nThe toe-in system, which changes the angle of attack of the rudders, is adjusted from on deck using a geared system first developed for the VO70 Groupama. \u201cYou want the windward one to have the least drag,\u201d Juan K explains. \u201cFor downwind VMG sailing we\u2019re looking at 11-15\u00b0 heel, reaching is 20-25\u00b0 and upwind is 25\u00b0. At around 21\u00b0 the windward rudder stops touching the water \u2013 it\u2019s ideal when it\u2019s just kissing the water.\u201d
\nLife at heel
\nWhile you are certainly aware of the near 30ft of beam when sailing upwind on the ClubSwan 125, it doesn\u2019t feel like alarming levels of heel. Skorpios tracks along on its chine, while on deck the SeaDek closed cell foam decking provides excellent grip and the aft companionway and mainsheet plinth help to break up the large cockpit spaces.
\nThe deck design is remarkably uncluttered and kept deliberately simple, meaning minimal winches and lines on deck. The use of multiple furling foresails, similar to a racing multihull or IMOCA 60, helps simplify manoeuvres. One of the neatest features is having the furler lines all lead under deck.
\nSailing Skorpios requires the balancing of phenomenal sail area with moveable ballast and righting moment, while keeping the boat on a narrow (heeled) waterline beam. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\n\u201cThey have to be,\u201d comments Wylie, \u201cimagine a 450kg sail sitting on them \u2013 they wouldn\u2019t shift!\u201d
\nA keyboard of constrictor clutches are also used under the deck and the headsails are all on halyard locks, as are the three mainsail reefs. Lights and alarms display when these locks are engaged and then there are sensors everywhere, says Ech\u00e1varri \u2013 \u201cin the hydraulics, linear sensors between cables and sails, on vertical shrouds, on winches etc.\u201d
\nDuring our second uphill leg I spend some time at the forward end of the rail\u2019s crew stack filming and getting duly soaked. It really hits home how relentless and potentially exhausting it is sailing in such high apparent winds. It\u2019s little wonder IMOCAs and Ultimes have dramatically increased their protection and aero packages.
\nMeanwhile, out to windward the chase boat bounces along with photographer Mark Lloyd aboard trying to steady himself. Not many powerboats could keep up with the ClubSwan 125 Skorpios in these seas, but this is no ordinary tender. Theirs is a 15m carbon catamaran, complete with 1,200hp of outboard propulsion, which was built in New Zealand in parallel development with Skorpios.
\n\u201cWhen we decided to go lighter and lighter, the anchor became a big factor,\u201d Ech\u00e1varri elaborates. With a 7.4m deep keel, Skorpios will have to rely on its anchor gear, so the tender was designed to carry and deploy the main anchor and 600kg of chain. And because of the mothership\u2019s restrictive draught, this chase boat also has the tanks to fuel bunker, while a sawn-off bow allows it to nudge up to the transom to unload supplies and swap sails. The sheer scale of this project!
\nThe buzz
\nAnd then it happened\u2026 one of life\u2019s golden moments. I am offered a glory spell on the wheel. We are smoking along, sheets ever so slightly cracked, making a steady 15-16 knots in 18 knots of breeze and Skorpios is like a freight train, unwavering in its speed and line.
\nOccasionally I glance the long way down to the leeward rail and see the whitewater shooting past. It makes me giddy. Concentrate on the numbers Toby, this is no time to lose focus.
\nMinimalist saloon with canting furniture. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nSo much power is felt through that foam-gripped composite wheel. On the pedestals are a hydraulics cut-off, a Jonbuoy release button, a high load alarm, and controls for the canting keel and trim tab. Needless to say I keep my hands on the wheel. The sheets are left alone as we charge back towards Portland, full steam, while I try to log every second in my long-term memory bank.
\nWhen the decorated Olympic and round the world sailor Xavi Fernandez turns round from the rail and asks me how it feels on the helm, I am lost for words and simply grin.
\nEch\u00e1varri sums up our sail more casually; he\u2019s concerned with stats not emotion. \u201cToday was a good day. Let\u2019s say we were pretty good in performance \u2013 95-98% of VPPs, which is good when there\u2019s still a lot to learn.\u201d
\nI simply tremble with nervous adrenaline\u2026 for days.
\nBuilding a beast
\n\u201cThe opportunity to work together with the greatest boatbuilders, designers and technicians around the globe, was awe-inspiring,\u201d says Leonardo Ferragamo, Nautor\u2019s Group president. Nautor\u2019s Swan conceived and built the yacht in Finland, but with so many teams and subcontractors involved, Skorpios is more a custom race boat than a conventional Swan.
\n\u201cA team of 30 was initially brought in to laminate the hull,\u201d says Bob Wylie, while explaining the challenge of maintaining a workforce during Covid times. Grand-Prix raceboat construction techniques were used, including unidirectional prepregs and honeycomb nomex cores, with monolithic construction below the chine.
\nengine room contains the twin 400lt carbon hydraulic tanks and the mast base (mast jack load at full dock tune is around 90 tonnes!). Otherwise it\u2019s just an engine and a spare genset, but no domestic batteries, chargers or inverters. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nPost sailing we have a chance to look below decks of the ClubSwan 125 and it\u2019s way more Spartan than I had been expecting. There is some cabin comfort for overnight races and a focus on safety in the saloon for guests. That\u2019s it.
\n\u201cAs you get faster and faster you start to think of the security on board,\u201d Ech\u00e1varri explains. \u201cWe developed a super light, safe interior which is minimalist and nice looking.\u201d The saloon seats rotate over a central hinge to suit the heeling angle and the table cants at multiple angles on titanium hinges. The \u2018galley\u2019 is a gimballed microwave on a central bulkhead unit with fridge below (\u201cthis is all we allow them,\u201d Ech\u00e1varri grins). Otherwise it\u2019s just pipe cot-style bunks each side of the saloon and a day heads\/shower.
\nThe forepeak is known as the cathedral for its exhibition of bare structures, stringers, bulkheads and longitudinals. Photo: Mark Lloyd \/ Lloyd Images
\nThe minimalist nature encourages you to focus on the build and finish quality, which is quite remarkable. A closer look at the bulkheads and doors reveals they are all bare carbon. Bar the deckheads and sole panels there are no liners, no panels, not even a drop of paint. It really is a Formula One shell built and finished with Nautor quality.
\nMove forward from the saloon and you won\u2019t find any of the luxury cabins or accommodation you might expect on a large Swan, just a bare central engine room, the foil casing and acres of the black stuff. See for yourself on our walkthrough video on yachtingworld.com
\nWhat\u2019s the goal?
\n\u201cAt the moment the challenges are the races \u2013 the Fastnet, the Middle Sea Race,\u201d says Ech\u00e1varri. \u201cAnd slowly we will see the real potential. The concept didn\u2019t start with a record breaker brief and we don\u2019t know if it will be faster than Comanche yet. If we feel like it has the potential, we would like the north Atlantic.\u201d
\nWhether speed is best measured for you on a Moth, SailRocket, an Ultime trimaran or this goliath, those who push for line honours and records will always make headlines. The ClubSwan 125 could potentially set a new bar in that respect. And by taking line honours in its first event, Skorpios has already proved it\u2019s got the necessary sting in its tail.<\/p>\n
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The post Sailing the fastest offshore monohull, the ClubSwan 125 appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yachting World’s Toby Hodges sails the radical new ClubSwan 125 Skorpios and gives you a tour. Skorpios is the largest entrant in the Fastnet ever and took line honours weeks after launch in 2021It\u2019s tricky to gauge speed and scale … <\/p>\n