Shane Hughes from North Sails Ireland is the sailing team manager and a trimmer onboard the Swiss Club Swan 50 ‘Mathilde’.
Hughes has been working with the team since the boat arrived new from Nautor in early 2017. The project is exciting, a brand new One Design 50 footer, designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian (Multiple Volvo Ocean Race winning designer) that has gained instant traction with 20+ boats already sold.
Monaco was the first event in the Swan One Design Mediterranean League and while all the teams were dusting off the boats for the first time in 2018 the competition was extremely close with multiple place changes making for compelling racing. Mathilde lost out on victory by a single point in the end but to very deserving victors in ‘Cuordileone’. Result here
All 5 CS 50’s at the event used exclusively North Sails Inventories, with 3Di Raw used for upwind sails and a mixture of North Sails laminates and Nylon downwind.
Mathilde took delivery of a new J2 (medium Jib) and A1 (Light Asymmetric) for the event. The development process within the North Sails group is ongoing in classes like this, with multiple North Sails representatives competing in the class, so both sails had significant upgrades applied from the previous years specification. Hughes says this kind of internal collaboration allows them to push design limits and refine material choices and cosmetics detailing.
The next class event is Palma Vela in Early May where up to 10 teams are expected which will add even more to the competition and close racing.
