The Swan 55 Frers is a Finnish

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

that was designed by

Germán Frers Germán Frers Sr. (born July 4, 1941) is an Argentinian naval architect known for designing racing yachts. He designed his first yacht in 1958 and has been involved in the design of more than 1000 yachts, including '' Kialoa V'' and '' Hyperion' ...

as a

blue water Maritime geography is a collection of terms used by naval military units to loosely define three maritime regions: brown water, green water, and blue water. Definitions The elements of maritime geography are loosely defined and their meanings hav ...

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

- racer and first built in 2021. The interior design is by

Misa Poggi Misa or MISA may refer to: Characters * Pixy Misa (ピクシィミサ), a character in the anime ''Magical Girl Pretty Sammy'' * Misa Amane (弥海砂), a character in the manga, anime and film ''Death Note'' * Misa Arashiyama (嵐山美佐), a ...

. The design is marketed by the manufacturer as the Swan 55, but is usually referred to as the Swan 55 Frers to differentiate it from the unrelated 1970 Swan 55

Sparkman & Stephens Sparkman & Stephens is a naval architecture and yacht brokerage firm with offices in Newport, Rhode Island and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. The firm performs design and engineering of new and existing vessels for pleasure, commercial, and milit ...

design and 1990 Swan 55CC Frers design.

Production

The design has been built by Oy Nautor AB in Finland, since 2021. it remained in production.

Design

The Swan 55 Frers is a recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, built predominantly of

glassfibre Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig, with three sets of swept spreaders and a

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar (sailing), spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestay, forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create ...

. The hull has a

plumb stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a

reverse transom In some boats and ships, a transom is the aft transverse surface of the hull that forms the stern of a vessel. Historically, they are a development from the canoe stern (or "double-ender") wherein which both bow and stern are pointed. Transom ...

with a drop-down tailgate swimming platform and dual internally mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

s controlled by dual

wheels A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axl ...

. It has a number of

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

options, including a fin keel, shoal-draft keel, "performance" deep draft keel or stub keel and retractable

centreboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The standard fin keel-equipped version of the boat has a draft of , the shoal draft keel version has a draft of , the deep keel version has a draft of , while the centerboard-equipped version has a draft of with the centerboard extended and with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water. The boat is fitted with a Japanese

Yanmar is a Japanese diesel engine, heavy machinery and agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1912. Yanmar manufactures and sells engines used in a wide range of applications, including seagoing vessels, pleasure boats, cons ...

4JH110CR

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

of for docking and manoeuvring. The fuel tank holds and the

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

tank has a capacity of . The design has sleeping accommodation for six people, with a double

"V"-berth A sleeping berth is a bed or sleeping accommodation on vehicles. Space accommodations have contributed to certain common design elements of berths. Beds in boats or ships While beds on large ships are little different from those on shore, ...

in the bow cabin, a double berth in the forward cabin, a U-shaped settee and a straight settee in the main cabin and an aft cabin with a double berth on the starboard side. The

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

is located on the port side at the

companionway In the architecture of a ship, a companion or companionway is a raised and windowed hatchway in the ship's deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins. A companionway may be secured by doors or, commonly i ...

ladder. The galley is L-shaped and is equipped with a four-burner stove, an

ice box An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrig ...

and a double sink. There are three heads, one in the bow cabin on the starboard side, one just aft of that and one on the starboard side in the aft cabin. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a

gennaker A gennaker is a sail that was developed before the 1980s. Used when sailing downwind, it is a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker. It is not symmetric like a true spinnaker but is asymmetric like a genoa, but the gennaker is not attached to ...

of . The design has a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to- ...

of .

Operational history

In a 2021 ''Yachting World'' introductory review, Rupert Holmes noted, "two versions of the Swan 55 will be offered – a standard cruising model and a performance variant with a square-top mainsail. This will clearly be an attractive option for those planning to race the boat, whether in one of Nautor’s own events, or in iconic regattas and offshore races around the world." In a 2021 introductory ''Nautic Magazine'' review, Andrei Dragos wrote, "she will be a pleasant yacht to sail, easy to handle and cruise in its standard version and race in its performance set up version, which includes a square to mainsail and a bowsprit for the light weather and downwind sails." In a 2023 review for ''Yachting World'', Toby Hodges wrote, "the Swan 55 has a modern, beamy hull form, albeit combined with some of that deep V hull which helped make the 54 seaworthy. It also has a lower style fixed bowsprit and a completely new beach club transom design which opens and extends out on rams to create a massive bathing platform as well as revealing a lazarette and tender garage for a 2.5m

RIB In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

References

External links

* {{Sailboat types built by Nautor Swan Keelboats 2020s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by Germán Frers Sailboat types built by Nautor Swan

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links