New Boat: Nautor Swan Shadow
Sailing yacht builder Nautor Swan gets powered up.
Nautor Swan’s First Powerboat
I once spent a college summer in Western Europe. Just about anywhere I went, whether it was a plaza, the beach, or a bus station, I witnessed a similar pattern—designer bags and clothing, a “no pasa nada” attitude that made you feel like the ‘somewhere’ in “it’s five ‘o clock somewhere” was always referring to your exact location at any given moment, and the soft sound of Eurodance puttering somewhere in the distance. Thirteen years later, when I sat down in a cushy seat at the docks of the Miami boat show and was given a set of VR goggles to strap to my face while it pumped loud generic techno into my ears, it felt like I was back in Italy all over again.
This was my introduction to the Italian builder Nautor Swan, and their latest model, the Swan Shadow, a 44-foot sporty and angular dayboat with designer stow-away bags lined beneath teak finished gunwales, optional sunpad and sofa seated dining areas in the bow and stern deck that scream stuzzichini. You couldn’t see most of those details through the plastic dome wrapped around your head, but the virtual tour was interesting, to say the least. Like an overgrown barn owl, I twisted my neck about as close to 180 as it could go as I observed a Three-Dimensional GameBoy version of the Shadow that was meant to give boat buyers an idea of the varying layouts the Shadow would be available with; sunpads versus table set up, and galley area versus additional passenger seating. Personally, I preferred the real deal over the 32-bit replica.
Back to life in the fourth dimension, I stepped aboard the real Shadow. This was also a unique experience. The boat’s swim platform wraps completely around the triple Mercury 300 outboards, allowing for easy, step-free access to any oncoming passengers who have their hands full of too many crates of wine (this is an Italian boat) to notice their footing. On the middeck was the aforementioned sofa seating area, with dining table, which I came to learn is bolted onto the deck and easily removable or rearrangeable as owners see fit. Another welcome feature was the boat’s thoughtful T-top with electric sunroof, held up by four surrounding pillars (or two should you go with the short T-top option), to fend off excess sun or let more in as you please. A few people might want to sit there for dinner but I have a feeling a lot of the socializing on this vessel will take place on the wide, oversized teak gunwales.
Belowdecks is a simple and cozy stateroom and head with a completely enclosable shower. Nautor Swan also offers an additional berth in the bow should you expect to cruise with company along. That feature, coupled with the optional on-deck galley, would make for a comfortable few days stay aboard the Shadow. But from my perspective, especially after being amped up on needlessly loud techno, this girl was made for some fast times on the water.
With optional triple 350-hp Mercurys, the Shadow’s surely the fastest swan you’ll see on the water, pulling speeds purportedly up to 55 knots at wide open, 45 knots at fast cruising speed, and 30 knots at cruising speed, with a 260-mile range.
Perhaps the whole time you’ve been reading this article you’ve wondered, why is Nautor Swan—a company known for sleek, high-performance sailing yachts—finally producing a powerboat now? They’re a bit late in the game, sure, and the company’s president Leonardo Ferragamo admits they’ve resisted the urge for years, but they finally decided that the need for a chase boat to provide an added dimension to Swan yacht ownership was too strong to ignore.
“For so many years we’ve been thinking about launching a powerboat, but we always resisted this temptation until we really felt we had something really special and unique to present,” Ferragamo said. “She is full of the ingredients we believe in, and we are confident that we are going to make an important statement in the power yacht segment.”
Swan Shadow Specifications:
LOA: 43’4”
Beam: 14’1”
Draft: 2’82”
Displ.: 9,920 lb. (dry)
Fuel: 250 gal.
Water: 35 gal.
Engines: 3/250-hp, 300-hp or 350-hp Mercury Verados
Price: $760,000
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Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/outboard/nautor-swan-shadow-boat-review
