Builder Windy

Company history

Norwegian Hugo Wald named his shipyard Windy in memory of his «»father, a fisherman, whose boats always bore this name. They always, in any weather, brought him home. The love of the sea was passed on from father to son and, after training, Hugo became a shipbuilder. The company was founded in 1966 in the area of Arendala on the southeast coast of Norway, on the edge of a rich shipbuilding tradition. The production ideology of the company is based on the desire to make high-quality, reliable and at the same time most comfortable boats for all weather conditions. And the company has been successful in this. «Deep V», sea-going and high-speed boats have won numerous awards and won admirers, among whom was the Norwegian Royal Family. In 1992, the company acquired the bankrupt legendary sports boat manufacturer Draco Norwegian shipyard, continuing to produce some of its models. With the onset of the economic crisis in 2008, the company moved its production to Poland and Sweden, where the labor force is cheaper. For this reason, 50 Norwegian workers at the shipyard have lost their jobs. However, Windy took this measure as the last of the Scandinavian pleasure boat manufacturers.

«When producing boats in Norway costs three times as much as in Poland, we just don't have a choice»," says company manager Trygve Hegnar.

In 2013, shortly after its successful debut with the Windy Dubois SR 52 Blackbird tender, the company opened a superyacht tender division.

Production

Windy boats and yachts are handmade in two modern factories on both sides of the Baltic Sea: in Swedish Westerwijk and Polish Ostroda. The shipyard does not chase volumes, paying close attention to quality, materials and technology. No more than 350 boats are produced per year, the vast majority of which are exported.

Model range

The SportCruisers range of models in the size range from 8 to 14 meters combines both open and semi-closed cabins and yachts with a hardtop. Draco Shipyard's heritage is represented by two 7m and 8m long bowrider models. The shipyard is also actively developing a wide range of tenders for superyachts, offering luxury and recognisable models from 7 to 16 metres in length. The» company gives the names of the winds blowing in different parts of the world to its models of boats and yachts according to their «character.

Features

It has become common in the specialist press to compare Windy boats with Porsche cars, appealing to superior quality, reliability and speed. Well, even though this comparison is conditional, it helps to understand the place of the Windy boats in the highly competitive sports cruiser segment.