Nordhavn (yacht)

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Nordhavn is a trade name of a line of ocean-going trawler-styled motor yachts designed and produced by Pacific Asian Enterprises, Inc. of Dana Point, California. The vessels, ranging from 40 to 120 feet (37 m) in length, are for known their structural strength and ability to cross oceans. Most have a raised forward pilothouse which is separate from the main salon and galley, or an aft deckhouse with the pilothouse raised on a second level above the salon. They also generally have full headroom in the engine room, and a single main engine with a "wing" 'get home' engine with separate prop shaft and a folding propeller. Nordhavn vessels are often purchased by liveaboards and a proportion of owners live aboard their vessel; often selling their homes to purchase a Nordhavn. Some models optionally have twin engines.

One 40-foot (12 m) 'stock' Nordhavn made history as the smallest production powered vessel to circumnavigate the world, from November 3, 2001 - June 30, 2002. It covered more than 24,000 miles (39,000 km) over some 170 days at sea, starting and ending its circumnavigation at Dana Point, California.

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Nordhavn

Nordhavn is a brand of motor vessel from Pacific Asian Enterprises, Inc. (PAE), based in Dana Point, California, USA. The company designs, builds and markets offshore passagemaking vessels ranging from 40 to 120 feet (12 to 37 m) in length. These full-displacement motor vessels travel at slow speeds - typically 6 to 9 knots (11 to 17 km/h) - but can cover thousands of miles on a single load of diesel fuel, and many have made long ocean passages. Most Nordhavn boats use a "dry stack" for exhaust (approximately vertical pipe from the engine) and a "keel cooler" (heat exchanger on the keel outside the hull) to take away excess engine heat. Most other vessels use a "wet exhaust," which draws in seawater to cool engine coolant in a heat exchanger. The "dry stack," which is used by many commercial boats, was chosen as some believe it to be less troublesome. Others argue that dry stacks are actually more troublesome, noisy, and that they are known for raining soot over the decks. It's an ongoing argument.

The vessels are constructed under the supervision of PAE project managers by boatbulding companies in Taiwan (Ta Shing Yachts) and China (South Coast) with whom PAE has a long history. Most Nordhavns are sold and commissioned in the United States, but the company also sells through one non-company sales office and service facility in England and one in Australia, and Nordhavns are routinely delivered and commissioned in Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere.

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History

Pacific Asian Enterprises, a California corporation, was incorporated in 1978. Dan Streech and Jim Leishman, the president and vice president respectively, were two of the company's three founding partners; Joe Meglen, the third founding partner, left the company in 2004. Originally, Pacific Asian Enterprises contracted to have vessels, including CT-41 and TransPac 49 sailing yachts, built in Taiwan and imported them into the USA. In its early years, the company's most successful product was its line of sailing yachts designed by naval architect Al Mason, starting with the Mason 43. In 1978, Jim Leishman's brother Jeff, still in high school, began working part-time for the company. Jeff went on to obtain a degree in naval architecture and become PAE's chief designer. Like his brother Jim and Dan Streech, he now holds an ownership stake in the company, though a smaller one than his two partners.

With the sailing yacht market in serious decline, in 1988 PAE built its first trawler--the Nordhavn 46 conceived by Jim Leishman and designed by his brother Jeff. The new Nordhavn oceangoing powerboat concept turned out to be a seminal event for the company. Though no longer in production, the popular 46 played a pivotal role in creating a new market for passagemaking vessels capable of going anywhere in the world and was a cornerstone in establishing the Nordhavn brand as one of the world's pre-eminent ocean-cruising motor vessels. As of the end of 2009, more than 500 Nordhavns had been built. (In late 2009, Nordhavn 46 hull number one, was cruising in the Mediterranean with its new owners, Patrick and Chris Mouligne on board.)

For several years in the 1990s PAE's standard offerings were its Nordhavn 46, 50, 57 and 62, vessels which proved immensely popular. However, in 1999 the company built the first in a new series of Jeff Leishman-designed vessels identifiable by their sturdy, boxy, almost commercial look: the Nordhavn 40, 43, 47, and 55. These vessels are high on the water, with a flying bridge stacked atop the pilot house, and carry their beam far forward, reducing efficiency and trading good looks for greater interior capacity. That allows more room for fuel and for the stuff that really sells boats: lush, comfortable interiors. Nordhavn has gained a reputation for rock-solid systems integrity--systems that are well engineered and keep on working.

PAE made its first foray away from its oceangoing trawler heritage beginning in 2000: the Nordhavn 35, billed as a fast coastal cruiser. Problem was, the early 35s--designed as 15-knot vessels--were so heavy they couldn't meet the company's speed goals. (Critics say that Nordhavn doesn't know how to build a light yacht.) Later hulls in the series included a tunnel over the propeller, and a determined "lightening" program made later Nordhavn 35s faster than the originals, but the 35 never truly gained market traction and the company discontinued the model after 23 were built. Current Nordhavn 35 owners, however, reportedly love the boats, and the vessels command a premium price on the brokerage market.

The company seems determined to keep trying its hand with other vessels that don't fit the usual Nordhavn style: a 75-foot sportfishing boat, a 56-foot motorsailer, and a 59-foot coastal cruiser. Like the Nordhavn 35, these have not resonated well with Nordhavn's traditional customers, and sales have been disappointing: three Nordhavn 75 sportfishermen, seven Nordhavn 56 motorsailers, and two or three copies of the new 18-to-20-knot Nordhavn 49 coastal pilot, introduced in 2017. See below.

According to company president Dan Streech, quoted in the company-published magazine Circumnavigator in October 2009, ". . .we have a great brand in Nordhavn, and as a company we work hard to make every Nordhavn vessel better than those that came before it. The company is right-sized: small enough to be quick, nimble and smart, yet large enough to bring many economies of scale to bear in the process of designing, building and delivering our vessels. While many boatbuilding companies are corporately owned and carry a lot of debt, a combination that can create a stranglehold, we're fundamentally a debt-free company. PAE is a corporation, but it's wholly owned by three career boatbuilders: Jim, Jeff and myself. We don't answer to corporate boards, bean counters, banks, or other masters--we make our own decisions. Building boats is our life's work, what we love to do. It's what we've chosen to do with our lives for the past 30 years, and it's the only business interest any of us have. Period. Our experience doing this has allowed us to develop a certain kind of wisdom and a skill set that helps us avoid the common pitfalls of the boat business. We have a very close, longstanding and mutually beneficial partnership with our two Chinese factories, and they build nothing but Nordhavns. In short, we believe we've seen it all, and we've learned a lot. It's why we've managed to remain successful, both in good economic times and bad."

However, times change. PAE was determined to segway into the megayacht market, and Jeff Leishman designed what eventually became a 120-foot yacht as the queen of the Nordhavn fleet. The company invested heavily in tooling for the new yacht at Xiamen, China, and finally began molding the hull, deck, and associated parts, all without having a buyer. Typically in the fiberglass boatbuilding business to recover (amotrize) the tooling costs a company must sell a half-dozen copies or more of each model. PAE found itself having trouble selling even one. A buyer was found, but it didn't end well. The buyer ended up suing the company and quickly selling the 120. No more copies were built, and informed company sources report that PAE was forced to give its Xiamen builder a share of the company to pay for the tooling built for the 120.

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Around the World and Nordhavn Atlantic Rally

To show the world that even its smallest oceangoing Nordhavn was capable of circumnavigating the globe, PAE VP Jim Leishman conceived an around-the-world trip, a west-about circumnavigation in a "stock" Nordhavn 40. With a rotating crew of PAE officers and employees and yachting journalists, the vessel, named NORDHAVN, covered more than 24,000 miles (39,000 km) over some 170 days at sea, from November 3, 2001 - June 30, 2002, starting and ending its circumnavigation at Dana Point, California. It set a record for what is believed to be the fastest motor vessel circumnavigation ever.

Buoyed by the success of the around the world trip, in 2003 Jim Leishman had another idea. In 2004, the company took a considerable risk by sponsoring a highly publicized trans-Atlantic event for owners, the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally. Under the rally banner, 18 vessels (and about 100 people) covered just over 4,000 miles (6,400 km) from Florida to Gibraltar, with stops in Bermuda and the Azores. Fifteen of the vessels were Nordhavns, and all except the company's Atlantic Escort were privately owned and operated. This marked the first fleet-based Atlantic crossing by a group of motor vessels, and its success further boosted the company's stature. A similar but smaller non-commercial and all-volunteer rally, Med Bound 2007, was conducted in summer 2007, with eight Nordhavns going to Bermuda and five returning to the USA, while three of the vessels, by plan, continued on to the Azores and Gibraltar.

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Moving to Larger Vessels

Larger Nordhavn vessels have begun coming off Jeff Leishman's drawing board: Nordhavn 64, 68, 72, 76, 86, and then a Nordhavn 120. By 2008, the new and larger Nordhavns were responsible for an increasing share of the company's revenues and the company's focus was no longer on the smaller vessels that built the Nordhavn brand. In early 2012 the PAE announced plans for a 52-foot "coastal pilot" aimed at a different market: coastal cruisers. According to the company's announcement, "Designed as an elegant, highly capable coastal cruiser, the new 52 will offer semi-displacement cruising speed and efficiency along with the safety and capability sought after by the serious cruisers. With a cruising speed between eight and fifteen knots and a range in excess of 1,000 nautical miles, aside from major ocean crossings, this rugged new Nordhavn can fulfill the most ambitious of cruising dreams." The design was stretched to 59 feet and is being marketed as the coastal pilot 59 with twin 715HP Cummins engines. The company says the new 59CP features a semi-displacement hull designed for top speeds of 18-20 knots and a range of up to 1,000 NM. Early indications are that the 59CP is struggling to find buyers.

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Motorsailer yacht

Nordhavn also produced a Passagesailer, though none have been built for several years due to lack of demand. PAE says this yacht combines the best characteristics of a passagemaking trawler vessel and a motorsailer: a yacht that will perform well in either role, with transoceanic range under power alone and modest sailing performance in offshore conditions. Originally designed at 50 feet (15 m), it has been produced as a 56-footer, a displacement of over 70,000 lbs, and a 750-gallon fuel capacity. Powered by the proven Lugger 1066 T diesel engine, the boat has a top speed of over 10 knots. A 36-inch four-bladed controllable pitch Hundested propeller is used for flexibility of operation. When conditions dictate, the propeller can be fully feathered to enhance sailing performance. Under sail power alone it can cruise at up to 8 knots. Alternatively, the engine can be run at very low rpm and high propeller pitch, combined with the drive and stabilizing force of the sails, to provide comfort, economy and capability. Seven have been sold.

Rumor has it that the company has been trying to find a buyer for the past few years but has not yet found one.

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Notes

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External links

• Nordhavn website
• More extensive history
• CEO Jim Leishman Interview on Pendanablog [1]

Source of article : Wikipedia