Nautors Swan Sailing Yachts for Sale

The cult shipyard for everyone who loves sleek, beautiful yachts.

Nautors Swan yachts are icons in the world of sailing. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sixties icon

Nautor is a Finnish yard building luxury sailing yachts, based in Jakobstad. Founded in 1966 by Pekka Koskenkylä, the company now also builds powerboats, but the yard owes its outstanding reputation to the Swan sailing yacht range.

The legends surrounding Nautor's Swan yachts were mainly born in the 1960s and 1970s. From the very start of production, the US designers Sparkman & Stephens (by then long established and celebrated) drew every yacht for the Finnish custom-build flagship yard. A total of 775 yachts carried the S&S signature, characterized above all by confident styling borrowed from the racing scene of the day and by luxurious interiors.

Even back then, Swan yachts were successful in offshore races, establishing their reputation as the fastest luxury yachts in the world. They won the most important regattas of the era, including Cowes Week in 1968 and the 1972 Bermuda Race with the Swan 48, before finally triumphing in the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973/74 aboard a ketch-rigged Swan 65. The victory of the "Sayula II" remains one of the yard's truly great brand moments and cemented the Swan's reputation as a luxurious yet uncompromisingly ocean-capable yacht.

New designers, a new era

From the late 1970s onwards, Ron Holland took over the designs for Nautor's Swan models. Around 300 boats were built in Jakobstad to his drawings, including key models such as the Swan 37, 39 and 42.

In the 1980s, a new era began for Nautor's Swan with the appointment of Argentinian designer Germán Frers. More than 900 yachts were built to his designs. Over the course of his time with Nautor, Frers increasingly moved towards luxurious, fast performance cruisers. It is precisely this balance of racing DNA, elegance and manageable performance that still defines many Swan yachts today.

Specialists in speed

So from the mid-2010s, Nautor brought the successful racing yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian on board through a design competition. The ClubSwan 50 opened a new chapter: a pure racer, around which entire regatta series are now being built. Further models followed, such as the ClubSwan 36, 41 and 43, with which Nautor consistently expanded the brand's sporting spearhead.

Swan one-design regattas

Speaking of Swan regattas: in 2017, the Nations Trophy was launched as a biennial event to promote Swan one-design racing between nations. The regatta is open to the ClubSwan 50, Swan 45 and ClubSwan 42. Various European and world championships between the individual one-design classes have also been integrated into this competition. On top of that come further formats such as the ClubSwan Racing Series and the Swan One Design Worlds – a clear sign that Swan has long been more than just a yacht brand: it is a sporting ecosystem in its own right.

Since the company was founded in 1966, more than 2100 Swan yachts have been built, with a length ranging historically from around 36 to over 130 feet (as of 2026). The company employs around 400 people. Nautor currently divides its sailing program into the Swan, Swan Maxi and ClubSwan lines; in the meantime, a motor yacht division has been added as well.