Swan 37
Nautor Swan · Sparkman & Stephens · 1970
Updated
The Swan 37 is a 11.08 m heavy displacement racing yacht designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Nautor Swan, first launched in 1970. It races in Class C.
Length
11.08 m
36′ 4″
Beam
3.27 m
Draft
1.87 m
Displacement
7.0 t
Sail area
71 m²
On the podium
Where a Swan 37 finishes when she goes racing.
On the podium
4%
of 24 starts by 1 boat
Wins
0%
Read from 24 starts by 1 boat between 2023 and 2025, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a Swan 37 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
Campionato Invernale di Porto Santo Stefano2025- Pasquavela2024
- Campionato Invernale di Porto Santo Stefano2024
Raced one we are missing?
Report a regattaRound the buoys, or offshore
A short windward-leeward and a night at sea ask different things of a boat. Here is how this one does in each.
Round the buoys
0%
of these races end on the podium
Offshore & coastal
7%
of these races end on the podium
Better the longer it gets. Boats that settle into a groove and hold it gain ground once the course stops turning.
Who she races against
The designs a Swan 37 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
X-35 (3 meetings), Solaris 55 (3 meetings), Grand Soleil 44 (Polli) (3 meetings), Comet 45 (3 meetings), Grand Soleil 40 (Polli) (3 meetings), Bolt 37 (3 meetings), Elan 310 (3 meetings), First 36 (3 meetings), JPK 10.10 (3 meetings), First 31.7 (3 meetings), Grand Soleil 43 (Design) (3 meetings)
Some of the boats it races against
How the Swan 37 has fared against each of them, boat against boat on corrected time. Ordered by how often the two meet, not by who wins.
Speed at every angle
The shape of this design's speed, drawn from the measured fleet. Pick a wind and watch it stretch.
Upwind VMG
5.07
38°
Beam reach
7.69
90°
Broad reach
8.25
135°
Downwind VMG
7.36
170°
Speed in knots at 20 knots of true wind. Green marks the angles that pay: the closest useful beat and the deepest run worth sailing.
Where it wins and where it pays
Every boat is judged against its own measurements — length, weight, sail area. The quicker those say it should be, the more it has to deliver just to break even. Going fast is not enough: it has to go faster than its own numbers promised.
This one is at home going to windward. Windward-leeward courses give it more of what it is good at than a coastal race does.
Where it gains
Its best ground is on the beat when it blows, where it goes better than its measurements say it should, and by a margin worth having.
Where it pays
It falls short on a broad reach once it pipes up, giving away time it never gets back. That is weight that has to be driven rather than released.
Above the line it delivers more than promised and gains on the fleet. Below, it falls short. Move the wind: plenty of boats sit on one side in the light and the other when it blows.
Full width is 0.4 kn either way.
At 10 knots the boat and its rating are in balance across the course.
How fast is a Swan 37
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 3.15 | 4.28 | 4.85 | 5.07 |
| 52° | 4.80 | 6.25 | 6.82 | 7.05 |
| 60° | 5.05 | 6.45 | 6.96 | 7.24 |
| 75° | 5.20 | 6.58 | 7.12 | 7.53 |
| 90° | 5.11 | 6.67 | 7.21 | 7.69 |
| 110° | 5.13 | 6.81 | 7.47 | 8.09 |
| 120° | 4.98 | 6.75 | 7.47 | 8.35 |
| 135° | 4.51 | 6.43 | 7.30 | 8.25 |
| 150° | 3.85 | 5.79 | 6.96 | 7.89 |
| Run VMG | 3.34 | 5.03 | 6.30 | 7.36 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Nearly all carry a folding propeller. Crew weight is declared around 560 kg.
Rigging
Swan 37 rig and sail dimensions
A Swan 37 carries 12.57 m of mainsail hoist on a 3.57 m boom, a forestay 14.10 m above the deck. Typical figures across the 6 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails
The spinnaker spreads widest of all — 83 to 101 m² depending on bowsprit and set-up. Before ordering a sail, read the figure on your own measurement record rather than the typical one for the design.