Swan 38 – 1976

Swan 38 – 1976. New Engine 2013. Hull painted 2023 and other upgrades
A boat with excellent classic design, build quality, longevity and performance.

What makes the Swan 38 better than any other yacht of its size, is its ability to make open sea passages in all weathers, with fast sailing properties close to the wind, while keeping its crew comfortable, safe and rested.

The design was commissioned from the legendary architects Sparkman & Stephens by the still famous Finnish yard NAUTOR in 1974. Nautor had already had considerable commercial success with a series of S&S designed Swans ranging from 36 to 65 ft. The Swan 38 was designed as a more compact version of their outstandingly successful 1967 Swan 42 design, which had proved to be a fast boat at every level of racing competition. It ends in a “head turning” design with the flush deck like design and the unique, embedded spi poles on both sides.

The 38 is really a top quality build. It’s backbone is a massive stainless steel girder, solidly glassed into the bottom of the hull. This rigid base carries the loads of the mast and of the 7000lb keel and endows the GRP hull with enormous strength and stiffness. Most of the boats were built with a teak deck beautifully laid on top of the GRP top moulding. The teak is original but in good condition.

In total, 116 examples of the 38ft were built between 1974 and 1979. This boat from 1976 has serial number 75.

With 8 berths you have space for the whole family. Below deck there is a galley, toilet, possibility of 4 berths in the saloon, a cabin in the bow and an aft cabin with two longitudinal berths. In 2013 the boat was fitted with a new Bukh DV2 engine and in 2023 repainted Hull with Awlgrip.

Down below the joinery is immaculately made and polished to a cabinetmaker’s finish and still in very good condition. The Swan 38 was considered a roomy yacht in its days, and although it can’t now compare for spaciousness with modern yachts of similar overall length, the hull’s deep sections and relatively substantial displacement give it plenty of volume, so storage space is generous and useful.

There are good seagoing pilot berths outboard of the settee berths so that the off-watch crew can sleep securely in bad weather – the leesails for that are all available. The forward facing chart table to port allows the navigator to work on a large flat area, with bulkhead space for instruments, under-desk storage for charts for paperwork, and a useful shelf for pilot books, without disturbing any resting crew. It is separated from the decent size galley opposite by the engine box and companionway steps. Behind the navigator there is a good size locker.

Further aft there is a usefully private aft cabin under the cockpit. It is reached by a short passage on the port side, and it offers a double berth as well as a single quarter berth to port and storage space in the middle.

Forward of the mast there is an WC/shower on port and a hanging locker and drawer space to starboard. Further forward, the fore cabin is dominated by bin stowage for the wardrobe of extra sails (such as CODE-0 and the three gennakers/spis, extra genoa and the dingy). This can used as a double cabin, with two single bunks or a large triangular bed.

The cockpit is designed for easy sailing and handling and at the same time well protected with the larger model of the original sprayhood, tailored in GB.

The Swan 38 is an easy boat to sail and well known for her outstanding performance. Her wide decks enable rapid and safe crew movement for sail handling and harbor maneuvers, and the simple, single-spreader rig enables her to be sailed shorthanded.

Before the current owners she had two owners. First owner bought her from Sweden and placed her in the Lake Geneva in Switzerland (Sweetwater, and kept her covered or inside during winters). She was only daysailed. Second owner had her transported to UK, where she also was used almost exclusively for day sailing and club racing (with constantly improved sailing wardrobe), and only during summertime. She is now owned by two German gentlemen who protected the yacht also on land every winter and had indoor improvements carried out at specialist shipyards. They successfully had the following carried out: new electrics 2019, new windows 2021, underwater completely new protection in 2023, hull new – original – AWLGRIP paint in 2023. They bought her after a long-time search in 2018 in UK and sailed in the Baltics and later down to Portugal and the Algarve Coast where she is now. They love to sailing her a lot, but will have no longer time for sailing and therefore ready to let her go to new owners.

The biggest extra plus for this boat are – the beautiful hull painting in 2023, the new engine and full racing sail wardrobe. Therefore she always looks great and shiny.

The Standing Rig renewed (wires) 2013, and surveyed 2017.

The yacht is currently in Marina de Lagos in Lagos, Portugal but planned to be hauled out in Portimão, Portugal during the spring, 2024.