Nautor Swan 68, TITANIA OF COWES

Broker’s Comments

The Nautor Swan 68 is an iconic yacht, built to the highest standards by Nautor and with sweet, yet powerful, lines from German Frers. They have long legs for serious passagemaking. They are tough and capable for offshore performance sailing and will shine in regattas. Large enough for crew to be comfortably accommodated, they are also compact enough for family sailing.

TITANIA OF COWES is a later Swan 68, the ex-CHIPPEWA. She is only in her second ownership. She has had professional crew for all her life and has had a number of upgrades in both ownerships. She has a custom keel for improved performance and flush deck hatches which gives her a more modern look. She has recently been in an extensive refit with Berthon including a full service of her systems, rebuilt generator, new batteries, and replacement of all her seacocks. Her standing rigging is recent, and she is now ready for her new owner. She looks good from every angle.

Note

Photos TBC.

Owner’s Comments

At the time, we were working in Asia and wanted a sailing yacht that could serve as our “weekend house,” while also being capable of serious racing once a year. As we would often be flying in for weekends, we needed a yacht with sufficient accommodation for both ourselves, our guests, and a crew. We had been impressed by Swans and had always wanted to own one. The Swan 68 was the classic yacht that best met our requirements.

We already knew CHIPPEWA and regarded her as probably the best set-up Swan 68 afloat, with a classic layout, swim platform at the stern, and extensive racing equipment. She became our benchmark boat. We even hired CHIPPEWA’s former captain to help us assess other yachts. After looking at Swans in Singapore, Thailand, and Palma, we heard that CHIPPEWA herself was for sale. We travelled to Newport, Rhode Island, went on a test sail there and purchased her.

Our Itinerary

She is exceptionally fast to windward, especially in heavy conditions and, on handicap, will outperform almost any comparable yacht. She is slightly less competitive downwind against more modern planing hull designs, but overall, she has been a remarkably successful racing yacht.

We won the Premier Class in the King’s Cup in Thailand twice (2011 and 2012).

In the 2018 ARC, we won Class 1 Cruising and finished fourth overall. As the best-placed Swan yacht in the fleet, we also won the Swan Trophy (this trophy had been won by the previous owner).

We also achieved top ten finishes in the Sydney to Hobart and finished fourth overall in the Swan Europeans.

In 2011 we replaced the deck and the hatches – these flush hatches were manufactured by Swan and fitted by the Swan Service team from Europe. There are no leaks!

Over time, we have built significant redundancy into her systems so that we could cruise more adventurously and independently. For example, she has both a 240-volt watermaker and a 24-volt watermaker that can be run off the main engine, so we are not dependent on the generator for water. There is a spacious freezer – we were eating steak bought in Gibraltar four months later in the Caribbean.

The dishwasher was great when sailing without a full crew (and for the full crew, for that matter). The washing machine and tumble dryer provides quick laundry turnaround We have full air conditioning that can be run off the generator. The large Samsung Frame TV in the saloon allows family film evenings but can display a painting when not in use.

The navigation and communication systems were excellent in their time but are now dated.

She sails beautifully – as her racing record demonstrates – but she is also exceptionally comfortable to live aboard, especially in remote places, far from civilisation. We have had some wonderful sails to remote parts of Asia and the Caribbean, followed by great nights on the boat in remote anchorages where we were the only yacht.

In 2018-2020, we spent almost two continuous years aboard TITANIA, sailing extensively in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and the US East Coast. Prior to that, we used her extensively in Asia. Increasingly, however, we want to sail more locally and no longer need a yacht of TITANIA’s size for the type of sailing we now plan to do.

First Owner’s Comments (Keel Modification)

The main keel modifications on TITANIA were done in October/November 2005 in Newport. These modifications were recommended and overseen by the Yacht Designer Jim Teeters, who is also based in Newport.

At the time the owner was trying to improve the overall competitiveness of the boat, particularly in the lighter wind ranges. Jim decided that she really did not need to have the bulb on the keel since it was creating a lot of drag, the boat was extremely stiff (being able to carry a 155% headsail upwind in 20 kts of true wind speed) and she had a carbon mast.

After doing the necessary stability calculations, Jim advised the removal of the keel bulb.

This was done without changing the draft of the boat i.e. the sides and ends of the bulb were cut off and made to match the profile of the fin; in effect this just increased the actual fin length.

Structurally this made no negative difference to the keel and, since there was less weight in the keel, there was less bending moment on the keel to hull joint and keel bolts Jim’s numbers and inclination test proved that the stability was still very good with no bulb.

The figures for this are shown in the SSI number on the rating certificates.

In racing, cruising and on deliveries we did not really notice the reduced stability. The boat just felt like a better sailing boat, going more easily in lighter winds. The added advantage of less stability is that the deck gear and fitting take less load, which was always a problem on the Swan 68’s.

After we had completed the modifications to the keel, we informed the insurance company, and they were happy with everything that had been done. Subsequently, the modifications were approved in the very rigorous entry assessment required for the Sydney-to-Hobart race, the Fastnet and the ARC.