Company history

In the early 1970s, the creator of Northshore‘s future shipyard, Brian Moffat, owned two shipyards, in Havant and Itchenor. The company produced custom boat hulls, including for Fairway Marine with Fisher ketches. The company later became known as Northshore Yachts. In 1975 the first Southerly 25 with a centreboard appeared, and in 1980 the Southerly 95 had a retractable keel and was fiberglass. The idea was further developed with the Southerly 100 and 101.

At the same time in the 80’s Northshore built good quality fiberglass keel yachts Vancouver, Victoria, MG, Sigma and others. The Southerly brand and sliding keel ideology became dominant in Northshore’s business after it was sold by 73-year-old Moffat to entrepreneur Lester Abbott in 2003.

The new owner has invested in the development of the Southerly range and got rid of other Northshore brands. On the outside, things were going well, and in 2010 Princess Anne attended the opening of the renovated Northshore shipyard. But already in 2012 the shipyard’s suppliers felt payment delays, and in 2013 the first thunder came. The lenders had publicly announced the shipyard’s millions in debt.

A futile attempt to revive Northshore was made in 2014. Indeed, Southerly was saved only in 2017 when the brand was acquired by Discovery Yachts. The new owners invested in the renewal and development of the line and moved production to Southampton.

Status .

It’s working.

Production

The Northshore shipyard in Southerly’s «small motherland» in Itchenor continues to function as a repair base. The yachts themselves are being built at the Discovery Yachts Group facility in Southampton, which employs approximately 150 people.

Model range

The Southerly range is built on the principle «of all the best already invented». That is, the new models are, in fact, the processing of the earlier ones. In this case, the change of ownership has not changed this philosophy. The only model recently launched from «scratch»is the flagship 590 from Dubois Naval Architects. In total, more than 900 buildings have been built since its inception.

Features .

She remains the only GRP yacht with a lifting keel. It’s a simple and clear idea, but it’s worth exploring a little bit how great prospects open up. For example, small models like the 330 and 380 can pass through the canals of Europe from England to the Mediterranean Sea much faster than by sea. Imagine how many more places you can explore without worrying about rainfall.