Nautor Swan 100

Kora is the third Swan this loyal owner has built and raced, all with the same name. She is officially a Swan 100 FD (flush deck), one of three configurations conceived by Frers for the 100-foot series. Other arrangements include the 100 S (salon) and 100 RS (raised salon). The S and RS versions provide increasingly greater interior volumes compared to the flush deck, thus Kora’s configuration is a popular choice for avid racers.

Frers and Swan have also made the 100-foot class available with a choice of lifting or fixed keel. This, along with flexible deck and layout options, allows owners a considerable amount of customizing. Kora’s owner specified his FD with a lifting keel. (Click image to enlarge)

Both hulls preceding Kora in this series had been outfitted with honeycombed granite and marble surfaces. But this owner requested a high-gloss, teak-and-holly sole, horizontal teak-paneled joinery and heads painted white with teak accents. These simpler choices allow traditional elements to take center stage. The result is a performance racer with a classic, comfortable, yet Spartan interior—a complement to her minimalist deck.

Sitting in Kora’s main salon, Frers identifies some of his favorite features in the series. Despite being completely belowdecks, the salon is bathed in natural light that washes in from four electronically operated overhead hatches, port and starboard windows and pneumatically operated glass hatches in the companionway. The hatches spark Frers to expound on what he likes most about the boat—in-house innovations that Swan has perfected over the years (sometimes modifications to his designs). The same technology used for the hatches has been applied to the salon’s pop-up television and the attendant pop-up satellite on the foredeck.

Designer German Frers incorporated many unique features, including an intricate bimini, dodger and side-screen system that completely encloses the cockpit dining area and a gimbaled stove. (Click image to enlarge)

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Ensuite guest cabins are forward from the salon with two twins, one double and an office, which converts to a cabin. The aft crew quarters have a separate companionway. The galley provides access to the crew area with cabins, mess and navigation station. More "Swan standards" along the way—custom gimbaled stove and carbon-fiber counter covers—are clearly a case of necessity serving as the mother of invention. Before entering the engine room through the crew mess aft is another of Swan’s own designs, the Programmable Logic Control system, or P.L.C. This system has evolved since it was developed in 1998 to control onboard features such as pneumatics, alarms and power sharing. The P.L.C. even controls air circulation in the engine room, sensing pressure and temperature and pumping more air when necessary.