Company history

Since 1981...

Finngulf Yachts Ltd. originated from the dreams of a young man. Established in 1981 by Mr. Stig Nordblad, the mission has remained unchanged since; our aim is and always has been to build the finest high performance cruising yachts for 100 per cent sailing. We started out with one model of our own, the legendary Finngulf 34 which was built for entering the 3 / 4 Ton World Cup in 1981. The naval architect and yacht designer, Håkan Södergren created a truly unique racing boat from fiberglass and foam core with engineering solutions that were way ahead of their time. The original yacht is fitted with aluminum bulkheads that are welded to a tube chassis that runs throughout the hull interior (this solution would be called a "space frame" today) - and it is still sails today. The boat placed very well in the World Cup, and was considered to be the fastest Scandinavian vessel of the race.

After the World Cup several orders for a more family friendly version of the boat were placed and Finngulf Yachts Ltd. started in earnest. Roughly 20 Finngulf 34:s were built over the first years. The 34 also laid the foundation for a long and prosperous cooperation with Håkan Södergren, who was to be the equivalent of our in-house designer for the following two decades.

The next yard developed model was the Finngulf 39, which started its life as the Crown 39. Finngulf Yachts had entered a subcontracting arrangement with the Crown yard, building hulls and decks for them, but rather rapidly took over the GRP molds and started building Finngulf 39 yachts instead. The FG39 (and subsequent facelifted FG391) had an unbelievable production run of 23 years: from 1982 to 2005! And the greatest thing is that the FG391 is still a capable boat today with several circumnavigations, transatlantic crossings and long distance cruises under her belt.

As a result of the uncompromising build quality of all Finngulf Yachts, an overwhelming majority of them are still in active use by happy sailors worldwide. As a sidenote it should be mentioned that in the early days of the eighties, Finngulf also built boats as a subcontractor under the brand "Inferno", so if you sail an Inferno 28/31/33 there is a chance that your yacht was built by Finngulf Yachts - hence the similarity in look and feel of the interior. A grand total of 900 yachts have been built by the Finngulf Yachts yard over the years.

1990's

Following a restructuring of the owner base in the early nineties, work continued through building the Håkan Södergren designed FG335, FG36 and FG391. The company flagship, Finngulf 44 was introduced in early 1990. Hundreds of boats across the range were built for discerning customers, and export sales really took off with yachts delivered all over Northern Europe and USA. In 1997 the foundation was laid for the cooperation with AS Saare Paat in Nasva, Estonia. The first boats built at Saare Paat included two Finngulf 391:s as well as the legendary Finngulf 44 s/y Lennuk, later called s/y La Familia which completed her third circumnavigation.

The new millennium

The new millennium started with a well managed portfolio approach to product development, and the whole range was redesigned. A young, world class talented Finnish Naval Architect called Karl-Johan "Kamu" Stråhlmann was introduced to the global marketplace. Kamu's range of Finngulf yachts included the FG28 (now discontinued), FG33/331, FG37, FG41 and FG46. The newest boat in the range is the facelifted FG331 which was introduced to the sailing community in early 2009. In 2008 new Finngulf 43, designed by Farr Yacht Design was launched.

Present Day

Finngulf Oy is established with clear goal to update all models for today’s demanding markets. New launches will be presented soon. One thing is clear, the Finngulf heritage will continue and grow.