Southern Wind Shipyard

Southern Wind Shipyard, South Africa

Established for over two dozen years, Southern Wind Shipyard is a boat building company located in Cape Town, the provincial capital of South Africa. Some of the most sophisticated boat building technologies are applied to construct semi-customized composite motor and sailing yachts. Superior materials and state-of-the-art equipment is used, while drawing on time-tested traditional craftsmanship. Safety is a priority when constructing vessels used to sail the open seas and every effort is made at Southern Wind to ensure safe and robust ships.

Italian Passion Meets South African Diligence

Guglielmo Persico (known as Willy) founded Southern Wind Shipyard in 1991. Willy is an Italian engineer, sailor and entrepreneur who grew up in the coastal Italian city Naples. His passion for naval construction and sailing led Willy to the decision to build his own boat. He chose a shipyard in Cape Town and the work started. Before the construction of his ship was completed, the boatyard closed due to unforeseen circumstances. Willy saw this as a sign to realize his dreams; he purchased an industrial property nearby, opened his own ship building company and made his home in South Africa. He remains the CEO and commercial director of Southern Wind Shipyard, and enjoys collaborating with clients who share his enthusiasm for everything nautical.

The Boatyard of Southern Wind Shipyard

What It Takes to Make Excellent Ships

One of the few boat building yards in the world able to complete nearly every aspect of construction in-house, Southern Wind Shipyard is spread across a 17,000sqm area, of which 12,000sqm is sheltered. The yard is divided into two production areas: assembly and lamination. The assembly area comprises of several departments, each with its unique role; internal fitting and carpentry, deck hardware and steel work, and systems and engineering. A team of 320 individuals each play a role in these areas to manufacture world-class ships.

Italian Style

Italy is renowned for superb style and elegant design work and this applies to every ship that leaves the Southern Wind Shipyard. The company works with top of the range design teams to create beautiful boats with superior deck geometry and breathtaking interiors. Nauta Design studio is used when it comes to conceptualizing and styling of large sized yachts and medium sized models are taken care of by Antonio Minniti. Southern Wind also regularly collaborates with well-known designers like Farr Yacht Design and Reichel & Pugh to create seafaring vessels that are masterpieces.

The Lady

Of the most popular class of yachts built by Southern Wind Shipyard is the 94-foot mini range. Launched in February 2015, the Lady G is the third in this range, following Windfall and Kiboko II – both achieving considerable success in the industry. The Lady G is sporty and geared for performance, even in light winds. She was commissioned by an avid sailor and is a semi-custom project. The objective was to create a high performance vessel without compromising comfort or style. The Lady G was also built with the intention of being presented during the 2015 Monaco Yacht Show as a world premiere.