Performance Writ Large
Impossible to miss on racecourses this winter will be this giant and internally complex sailing machine with the potential to sting the superyacht scene.
More than four years since work began on the largest-ever creation from Nautor’s Swan, the ClubSwan 125, Skorpios finally launched for its Russian owner, Dmitry Rybolovlev, and by the time you read this, the giant new craft will have competed in its first event, the Rolex Fastnet Race. The Italianowned Finnish builder claims it to be the fastest monohull ever launched. This was further confirmed when the RORC Rating Office awarded the boat its highest-ever IRC TCC of 2.149.
Seeing the yacht at first glance, aside from the striking yellow scorpion design that extends from its black carbon sails down to the black carbon hull (a trust associated with Rybolovlev owns the Greek island after which the yacht is named), Skorpios resembles an elongated VO70. It feels like one too, from the moment you step on board. It’s lightweight for its size, rocking around in waves unlike a more displaced superyacht. This is less surprising given it was designed by the doyen of the VO70, Juan Kouyoumdjian. However, since then, Juan K. has designed George David’s Rambler 88 and even the ClubSwan 36 onedesign, of which both have very different hull forms.
The reason for Skorpios’ relatively conservative shape is because it was originally conceived as a more traditional Nautor’s Swan cruiser/racer. However, since commissioning the design, Rybolovlev has come to enjoy his performance sailing and become better at racing on board his ClubSwan 36 and ClubSwan 50, which culminated in his winning the ClubSwan 50 World Championship in 2019. Thus, Skorpios’ design brief evolved. Its Spanish skipper, Fernando Echavarri, the former Volvo Ocean Race skipper and Olympic Tornado gold medalist, explains: “As he’s sailed the ClubSwan 50 more, he was telling us every time to make this boat go faster and faster. So, then we would have to make an investigation—where is the boat right now? How fast is it now? How fast can we make her if we take another step?”
Because of this progression, Skorpios’ hull shape has a more modest beam-to-length ratio compared to the aircraftcarrier-styled Comanche, and far greater internal volume and higher freeboard. As is the trend these days, special focus was put on the foil and movable ballast package. Skorpios is fitted with twin rudders (with whale-flipper tubercles on their leading edges, as Rambler has) and a substantial keel that can be canted to 42 degrees. The keel is operated by one massive titanium ram on the port side, with a smaller secondary backup ram opposite powerful enough to center the 25-ton bulb and keel foil. In addition, in each aft quarter, there are ballast tanks into which 8 tons of water can be pumped to each side.
Two more unusual aspects of Skorpios’ foil package include the trim tab fitted to its canting keel and the single giant asymmetric, retracting C-foil (something with which Echavarri is familiar, albeit at a much smaller scale, on the Nacra 17 he used to campaign).
The latter resides inside a giant hoop of a case spanning the full breadth and height of the watertight keel compartment midship. Lowered to leeward, the foil prevents leeway and, thanks to its curvature, reduces displacement, but not enough to make Skorpios a flying machine. Downwind, the foil can be fully retracted, leaving roughly 3 feet of tip protruding on each side.
The trim tab is a flap fitted to the back of the keel foil. Conventionally an upwind device, when applied, it gives the foil an asymmetric profile, thereby developing lift and causing the boat to crab to weather. Trim tabs are nothing new, but it’s believed that this is the first time a trim tab has been used on a canting keel, and it remains to be seen if it could reduce righting moment when the keel is canted nearing the horizontal. Given all possible trim variables—plus the additional effect of the water ballast altering heel, and the