Swan 60
Nautor Swan · German Frers · 1994
Updated
The Swan 60 is a 18.94 m displacement racing yacht designed by German Frers and built by Nautor Swan, first launched in 1994. It races in Class 0.
Length
18.94 m
62′ 2″
Beam
5.33 m
Draft
3.49 m
Displacement
24.8 t
Sail area
209 m²
On the podium
Where a Swan 60 finishes when she goes racing.
On the podium
22%
of 32 starts by 5 boats
Wins
16%
Read from 32 starts by 5 boats between 2022 and 2026, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a Swan 60 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
Rolex Swan Cup2026
73° Loro Piana Giraglia2026- 151 Miglia - Trofeo Cetilar2025
- Rolex Swan Cup2024
- 151 Miglia - Trofeo Cetilar2024
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
—
Not enough data yet: 4 races of 10 NM or less carry a published distance.
Offshore & coastal
21%
of these races end on the podium
Who she races against
The designs a Swan 60 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
Sun Fast 3600 (4 meetings), J/122 (3 meetings), Swan 42 (4 meetings), Farr 45 (2 meetings), First 34.7 (2 meetings), Grand Soleil 47 (2 meetings), Grand Soleil 43 (Carkeek) (3 meetings), First 36.7 (2 meetings), Dufour 40 (2 meetings), X-332 (2 meetings), Grand Soleil 44 (Polli) (2 meetings), Elan 410 (2 meetings), Dufour 34 (3 meetings), More 40 (2 meetings), Grand Soleil 39 (Maletto) (2 meetings), Swan 45 (2 meetings), First 45 (Briand) (1 meeting), Comet 45 (1 meeting), X-41 (2 meetings), Grand Soleil 46 (Carkeek) (1 meeting), M 1 (1 meeting), Solaris 55 (1 meeting), Farr 30 (1 meeting), X-50 (1 meeting), Comet 38 (Vallicelli) (1 meeting), Sun Fast 3300 (Andrieu) (1 meeting), Grand Soleil 37 (Carkeek) (1 meeting), TP 52 (Judel/Vrolijk) (2 meetings), Wallyrocket 51 (3 meetings), TP 52 (Carkeek) (1 meeting), Irc 52 (1 meeting), Mat 122 (1 meeting), Vor 60 (1 meeting)
Some of the boats it races against
How the Swan 60 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
6.83
37°
Beam reach
10.43
90°
Broad reach
11.40
135°
Downwind VMG
9.73
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.
It does its best work before the breeze fills in. In the light it does more than its numbers promise, and gives some of that back when the wind arrives.
Where it gains
Its best ground is to windward once it pipes up, where it outruns what it looks like on paper, and by a margin worth having.
Where it pays
It falls short on a broad reach when it blows, giving away time it never gets back. That is a displacement hull working to its designed speed.
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 1.2 kn either way.
At 10 knots this design makes back more than its rating asks on the beam reach.
How fast is a Swan 60
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 4.34 | 5.94 | 6.55 | 6.83 |
| 52° | 6.60 | 8.59 | 9.20 | 9.47 |
| 60° | 6.95 | 8.84 | 9.45 | 9.74 |
| 75° | 7.20 | 9.02 | 9.69 | 10.12 |
| 90° | 7.07 | 9.00 | 9.74 | 10.43 |
| 110° | 6.96 | 9.27 | 10.14 | 10.91 |
| 120° | 6.80 | 9.20 | 10.18 | 11.30 |
| 135° | 6.10 | 8.70 | 9.88 | 11.40 |
| 150° | 5.09 | 7.62 | 9.24 | 10.56 |
| Run VMG | 4.41 | 6.59 | 8.19 | 9.73 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Nearly all carry a folding propeller. A bowsprit is standard across the fleet. Crew weight is declared around 1180 kg.
Rigging
Swan 60 rig and sail dimensions
A Swan 60 carries 24.03 m of mainsail hoist on a 7.45 m boom, a forestay 25.59 m above the deck and a 7.58 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 5 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails
The spinnaker spreads widest of all — 244 to 420 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.