The first and the last Swan 47

Dear friends,

Maybe you like this.

Today we had a kind of a mini rendez-vous at Terschelling, one of the Wadden Isles in the extreme north of The Netherlands. We met the owner of Swan 47 "Edeni", buildnr. 70, the last one of the range.

Our boat, "Mandate", buildnr. 1 is now lying alongside her youngest sister. Isn't that special?

Best regards,

Gerrit Hiemstra, Swan 47/001

Dick Zuidema, Swan 47/070 

Dear friends,

Gerrit:

That is very cool. I would be very interested to know if you see significant differences in the boats. I think sometimes hull number 1 gets some special treatment, being first, to be attractive to new customers who will see her, and of course in any run of production, by the time the last boat is made, things have been learned that get into the later boats that did not get into number 1. In any case, very nice - thanks for posting....

Fair Winds,
Corazon, 411 #41

Dear Gerrit and Dick,

thanks for sharing your meeting and the pictures with us, you both should think to sail to the Med and participating to the sixth S&S Swan Rendez-vous in 2013...!

Fair winds

Matteo (38/067 Only You)

Hello all,

Of course the boats are much the same, they are the same type, but at the same time they differ a lot. This is most clear inside. If you step inside, it's like stepping into an completely other ship. Mandate has the alt I layout with the mast in the middle of the table and the L-shaped kitchen and a large aft saloon. Edeni has the alt II layout, which means that everything is shifted about 1 metre further aft, a larger front saloon, a smaller aft saloon.

Also on deck you find differences. The sliding front hatch of Mandate is further forward then on Edeni. Also Mandate has double hatches in the saloon, one in front of the mast one aft of the mast, while Edeni has one hatch aft of the mast.

I think all 47's differ more or less, also caused by owners who made changes during the past 30 years. But it is remarkable how good the boats are inside and how well they sail. Upwind there are not a lot of modern boats who can beat a Swan 47.

Visiting the Rendez-vous in the Med in 2013 is good idea, but it's a long sail from Holland and back again. We would love to sea other S&S Swans and meet their crews. We'll see if we can fit it in with work and other obligations.

Gerrit
Mandate 47/001

Dear Gerrit and Dick,

Thank you for the great images of this unusual event! What a wonderful meeting it must have been. Can only reiterate Matteo's invite to the next Rendezvous so that all of us other lucky S&S owners can participate in seeing the evolution from start to finish of this marvelous model Swan.

Fair winds,
Jayne & Aorangi 47/047

Hello Jayne,

Thanks again for the invitation, we will take it into consideration. But it's a 2400 miles trip from Holland to Elba and that's a bit heavy for a summer holiday! It's more then the trip from Newport to the Azores. And we need to go back again!

Best regards,

Gerrit

Gerrit

I notice the reconfiguration of the engine exhaust on Mandate - does the exhaust exit the two smaller holes on the lower transom now? Just curious...
Thanks,

Geoff
Corazon, 411 #41

Hello Geoff,

No, these holes are vent holes for the containers which hold the natural gas bottles in the lazarette. The vent hoses are connected, so when heeling, there is always at least one hole above the water. The exhaust is just under the transom on port side.

Best regards,

Gerrit