Swan 42/003, 1981, Ron Holland

[jamesjle]

Does anyone have any experiences with the Swan 42 designed by Ron Holland and built by Nautor in the early 80's. 38 were built over that
period. I would appreciate any comments on the boat, good or bad.

[atoll]

nice well built boat

[Delancey]

Nice boat, well built, very heavy. The boat I sailed on had electric winches which really isn't my thing but it's hard to control the boat without them unless you got some beefy crew.

Like other IOR designed boats of the period I think they tend to be a little squirrelly down wind.

[Mexdon]

I sailed a Swan 47 for 3 years a S & S design, a dream to sail and pointed so well but the minimum crew we could manage with for a day sail was 4. As stated the winches required real muscle. But it would clean up all comers except straight out racers

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by atoll

nice well built boat

--and how

[jamesjle]

Definitely you need a strategy downwind when short handed, ( much of the time
for us ). But the displacement makes things predictable.

003 is not electrically winched but has a greater capacity than standard so grind should not be a problem.

Talking of sailing the larger Swans I sailed on one of the original 65's in the 1970's, incredible, she left a lasting impression.

[savoir]

A lot of the Holland Swans were difficult to steer. Forever twitchy. I am thinking in particular of the 39 391 and 441. I have no knowledge of the 42 beyond saying that it was a later design. Improved ? Maybe.

In that size bracket I would recommend the Frers series Swan 44 if the price is not too high. The old S & S 43 and 44 are cheaper and super duper stable to sail.

With any old Swan you have to throw away the #1 unless you want to race. Tacking them is just plain too hard. Having your biggest jib at 120% is plenty.

[jamesjle]

Certainly the 43 is difficult to steer. No problem with the 42 and I don' think the 391's have a bad reputation.

We don't expect to be using the 130% much when two handed but like any boat
you sail to the crew's capacity at the time. Not many Ferrari owners are able to use their cars to the max like Mixhael Schumacher.But nice to have extra in hand

[savoir]

Huh ? What Swan 43 is difficult to steer ?

As for the 39 and 391 - both were dreadful cruising boats. Do you understand that both were Imp copies ?

[jamesjle]

Re 43's being difficult, not just my view also that of a Nautor associate. I don't know the 39 but the 391, certainly there are still a lot about. And it depends who you are and how you define cruising as to whether Imp evolutions work.

I remember a Dutch sailing barge doing an underwater crossing via the Middle Passage, not my idea of fun but the owner had a great time. Cruising suitability
is in the eye of the beholder.

[savoir]

Seems like you are seeking congratulations for having bought a Holland Swan.

I'm outta here on that one. The 39 391 and 441 were dreadfull boats for anything but racing. I would never buy a Holland Swan. They are unsteerable downwind. If you disagree then good luck to you and adieu. At least your spreaders will never get too dirty.

I have sailed an S & S Swan across the Pacific so I do know a little about such things.

[jamesjle]

Ah, the pleasantries of social media

[Banjo]

Good evening.

The Ron Holland Swan 42. That takes me back many years and great memories. I used to crew on one way back in 1983/84/85 racing on it in South Africa.
I think ours was number 6????????? Was called Thereda Star. Uk flagged although based in South Africa.

The owner then entrusted me with the task of delivering it to the UK for him where the boat was to be sold. It was a voyage of about 8 000 miles. So I got to know the 42 very well in a mixed bunch of weather.
Rough weather off the South African coast and for the first few days out into the South Atlantic. Then running for days on end with the South East trades calling at St Helena and Ascention. After that a long fetch and run to the Azores. Then a bit of everything all the way to Berthons Marina in Lymington, UK.

We were 4 onboard, and then three only from the Azores onwards.
The boat had hanked on headsails and a Plastimo/Navik windvane. No autopilot in those days. The primary winches were Lewmar 65's. NOT selftailing.

Downwind the boat did okay under the windwane and a poled out no 2 or no 3 genoa and main. When we used the kite, we would handstear. So I would imagine that with a good autopilot it will do just fine dead downwind.
With the big 65's handling the headsails were never a problem. I would often tack or gybe the boat at night by myself, without bothering to call one of the off-watch crew. I would even hand the spinnaker pole back onto the deck, gybe and re-set the pole by myself with the non selftailing primary winches. Ditto for reefing.
Sailing (cruising) a boat like the 42 was all about technique, not brute force.

Down below the boat was lovely. It takes some time to get used to the dropping down "into the whomb" of the Swan 42. But once you were down below even the roughest of gales seemed a lot calmer. You were after all sailng a Swan!

So, to sum up. Downwind the boat is fine. We had a full duplicate set of IOR racing sails stashed right in the bows and despite this the boat handled going downwind in the trades without broaching. Mostly under windvane.

The Swan was a sailors boat and I loved working the decks, going from winch to winch whinding and grinding. I think it had NINE!

Peace of mind? It is a Swan, so you will not drown out there. Not once did any of us feel the need to wear a harnes.

And when you arive in port................you're the guy skippering the Swan!

Enjoy your 42 if you have already bought it.

Regards,
Banjo.

[jamesjle]

Banjo, Seriously many thanks for the response, it confirms everything others have said. Taking the time to explain fully provides a very useful insight.

003 is probably the same re winches, the tally, inshallah in this case all self tailing, is eleven.

We built a Francis Herreshoff once and he had some very interesting things to say about going below into a calm womb like interior.

[mattplowman]

I am looking at a Swan 371 1981, Holland design. I would appreciate any comments / experiences from other forum members on this design. Preferably from those who have actually sailed on one.

Did most of my early sailing on a Frers Swan 53 so have been ruined for the rest of my life....only a Swan will do!!!