The Shogun 50 is a competitive 50ft racer-cruiser, suitable for the Swedish archipelago with its shallow and narrow waters. She is a boat that can be easily handled by a crew of two for ordinary sailing, yet fully able to sock it to the hot competition in the Gotland Round Race fully crewed. Designed by Oscar and Håkan Södergren, the Shogun 50 is a yacht with 50-feet of sleek, aggressive lines, built as a full carbon epoxy racer with an attitude. She is a yacht of Swedish expertise in modern technology, produced by the leading east coast boat builder Rosättra Boat Yard.
“Even at the berth, Shogun is a beast: aggressive, but at the same time elegantly flowing lines, even the teak deck follows the contour of the hull. The extreme lightweight construction combines spectacular sailing performance with exquisite workmanship. The 50-foot made of full carbon weighs just 7.9 tons despite the lifting keel. That is almost 500 kilograms less than a Club Swan 50. In order to keep the weight low despite the lifting keel and cosy interior fittings, the owner and designer engaged everything that has a reputation in Swedish high-tech boat building.”
— Hauke Schmidt, Yacht Magazine, Germany
Developed to make a statement on the racecourse, the Shogun 50 is a great yacht for an owner with a passion for racing. Her racing features includes her overall light weight of 7900 kg, which 45% is in the keel bulb – keel depth is 3,5 m (retracts to 2 m for docking). Full grip steering in high speeds with twin rudders in carbon. An extendable bow sprit to launch both codes and gennakers from. Her large sail plan includes a square top main for ultimate speed. These features make her respond very well to trim and tuning, making her a joy to sail. Other solutions like a large cockpit, spacious area down the stairway and a 2-cubic storage in the bow makes sail management simple.
Shogun started off its first season last year with racing in the Sandhamn Open, Swedish Big Boats Championship and the ORCi European Championship. She took her first victory in the sprint race during the European Championship and showed great potential throughout the regatta.
The Shogun 50 is not only a yacht suitable for offshore racing, but also very comfortable for cruising. Two separate compartments; one active, spacious area for racing right down the companionway, and one for rest and pleasure in the bow. The area in the middle of the boat allows for moving sails, navigation table and easy access to the head. The saloon in the bow is a contrast to a traditional interior layout and has a social U-shaped table.
With the interior, our focus was to build it as light as possible with divinycell sandwich material, carbon fibre, epoxy and oak veneer – and at the same time make the true feeling of craftsmanship come through. All the woodwork in the boat is hand crafted by experienced Swedish carpenters from Rosättra Boat Yard, with a heritage of building yachts since 1886.
With Shogun 50, we wanted to smooth out the boundary between hull and deck. We drew them as one unit. When looked at, the boat should be seen as a whole. Still, some parts want to break loose. We have allowed the superstructure to do that, with a shaded portlight along the entire side and a shade-edging above. The coach roof is sort of suspended on top. We have let hull and deck come together in an organic form, a form that floats all the way to the transom.
The shallow hull is slightly narrower than similar, more offshore oriented yachts, the object being an easily driven hull in the tighter confines of the archipelago. Shogun’s displacement is a low 7,9 tons, almost half of which (45%) is in the keel bulb. The keel’s fin is made entirely of carbon fibre and has no ballast function. For stability and windward going efficiency Shogun 50 has a keel depth of 3,5 meters. Shogun’s keel can be lifted to a very reasonable depth of only 2 meters. With a push on a button, the gates to the archipelago are thrown wide open.
All through the laminating process of the hull and deck, state-of-the-art materials and methods are applied, i.e. selected carbon fibre and vacuum injected epoxy on a sandwich core. With a complete set of moulds available, more Shogun 50s can be produced at a reasonable cost.
A flexible and easily managed sail-plan is an important part of Shogun’s concept, profiling a fat-head mainsail and wide fore-triangle with a total sail area of 138.5 sqm. The width at the upper part of the main makes the sail efficient even when reefed. The reef rows’ position is calculated with consideration to the mast’s placing far aft and the need for controlled balance when reducing sail area. For light and medium conditions, a 110% Genoa is used, supplying the proven efficiency of an overlapping head sail.
As much as Shogun 50 is fast and a joy to sail, she is a model of extraordinary design. If you ask the designer, he will tell you the distinctive spray rails is just that, design. However, they add function as well. The spray rails limit the amount of water onto the deck and become functional steps for the bowman when he is working out on the bowsprit. The negative bow shape gives the hull a longer waterline and increases performance, which is designed to continue in the same angle as the forestay. Both the spray rails and the negative bow are inspired by contemporary design. The advanced lines of Shogun make her a yacht with a strong, personal character.
