Nordhavn Yachts is a classic tale about two young mariners who spent their early years crossing oceans in small yachts, but their ambitions and accomplishments grew into an yachting enterprise. Jim Lieshman, crewing on his family’s yacht, had sailed from California to Hawaii. Dan Streech had cruised for a year on his family’s 54’ Alden yawl. Later, they met Joe Meglen and soon after they formed Pacific Asian Enterprises, importing CT boats, and Transpac 49s, from Taiwan.
In those early days of Taiwan production, boats needed extra effort to reach Western-world quality standards; so all three men worked with their crews to bring the boats up to par. They raised quality levels; eventually importing and selling 35 Transpacs. By 1977, ready for the next step, they presented a plan to their builders: The developer – PAE – would own the molds and tooling while the Taiwan builder would deal exclusively as their sub-contractor.
In spite of popular opinion and rejection by yachting magazines, their direction was a “tugboat” shape reminiscent of North Sea Trawlers. The guys named the new line of yachts… Nordhavn, which is Norwegian for North Harbor. They negotiated with a new builder, Tsai Wan Sheu, South Coast Marine in Tapei, Taiwan for production. While sailing cruisers at first turned up their noses to the new concept, ocean voyagers quickly saw this approach as a promising new concept. After all, most wind-sailors also used diesel power a large percentage of their miles, motor-sailing.
That was the beginning of an international marketing effort, and orders began flooding in for Nordhavn Yachts. This led to new models, new worldwide dealerships, and a new builder: SCM Xiamen China, which has delivered the new Nordhan 55. Other models, like the Nordhavn 40, have made the Around the World trip as a 27-week voyage, with successive crews of company employees.
Today, Nordhavn’s line of yachts ranges from 35 to 85 feet, with plans to build a new 50’ trawler-style, motor-sailer. Nordhavn enjoys a growing community of loyal yacht owners and repeat customers.
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