Dutch boatbuilder says future looks “rosy”

Dutch boatbuilder Saffier Yachts says it built 47 daysailers in 2017, 52 in 2018 and will produce 61 this year. The Dutch yard expects growth to continue, by leaps and bounds, in the years ahead.

“By 2021 or 2022, we’ll make 100 Saffiers a year,” says Dennis Hennevanger, who co-owns Saffier Yachts with his brother Dean. The brothers see growth notably in North America.

“I think the future looks rosy. Right now, the USA accounts for 8% or so of our sales, but I expect this to rise to 40% in the years ahead,” Dennis Hennevanger told IBI.

“I think Americans like the innovation that goes into our boats.” He sees the shores of New England, the Chesapeake Bay area and the Great Lakes as highly suited for his Saffiers.

At the 2019 HISWA-in-Water Boat Show in the Netherlands, he showed five Saffier models, including his yard’s flagship Se 37 Lounge.

Saffiers come in two lines, classic and elegant. They are high-quality, open-cockpit sailing yachts for day or weekend touring. “You’ll never see us making anything else,” says Hennevanger. “We see demand from the market for us to make motoryachts. Will not happen.”

Saffier Yachts has an innate understanding of sailing. It makes half a dozen sailboats, and has packed its boats with innovative solutions.

The Saffier Se 37, for instance, has twin steering positions at the front of the cockpit, a furling mainsail that rolls up into the boom, and a water-jet bow thruster.

Zeilen, the Netherlands’ leading sailing magazine, named the Saffier Se 37 Lounge its Boat of 2018, beating 13 other entries the magazine tested in the past year.