Shogun sailboats: a young Swedish yard built around one carbon-cruiser partnership
Shogun Yachts is a Stockholm-founded Swedish builder whose identity rests on a single design partnership: carbon-fiber performance cruisers drawn by father-and-son naval architects Håkan and Oscar Södergren. In a short history the brand has produced two distinct models, the Shogun 50 and the Shogun 43, and shifted production from a historic Swedish yard to a Finnish carbon-construction specialist, while keeping that same design partnership at its center throughout.
Origins and ownership
Mats Bergryd founded Shogun Yachts in 2019. He had owned a ClubSwan 50 and wanted a 50-footer built with that boat's positive features but a variable draught, so he had one built and founded the company around it; the resulting Shogun 50 became the brand's first model, launched that same year. Bergryd said the Shogun name was chosen as a pseudonym for strength — someone superior, as he put it, who "can kick arse." Production later moved: Ocean Quality Systems (OQS), a Jakobstad, Finland-based builder the company describes as renowned for its carbon-fiber construction expertise, now manages Shogun's production, and Shogun describes its boats as developed in Sweden and perfected in Jakobstad. OQS chief executive Tomas Halmesmäki said his team had dedicated years to mastering carbon-fiber construction techniques for high-performance marine applications.
The designers
Bergryd approached Håkan Södergren, by then working alongside his son Oscar, to design his boat. Håkan was already established for narrow, fast coastal cruiser/racers such as SwedeStar, Tarac 33, and the Helmsman series, and for designing the Paralympic 2.4mR class; the father-and-son partnership with Shogun began in 2019. Their design language on the Shogun 43 has been described as characterized by independence, and Södergren has said the aim was a cruising boat with outstanding performance that's easy to sail even with a small crew.
Construction through the eras
Every Shogun hull is carbon fiber, with design, moulds, laminates, and assembly all handled by Nordic companies. Marstrom Composites developed the keel and rudder for both the 50 and the 43, and built the 50's rig as well. The Shogun 50 was built at Rosättra Båtvarv, a long-established yard north of Stockholm also known as Linjettvarvet — Sweden's oldest still-active boatyard, home to the Linjett Yachts brand — which normally builds Linjett's more conventional models. The Shogun 43 followed the same route, assembled by a consortium of Swedish specialist companies that included Vaxholm Composites, described as Sweden's highest-profile manufacturer of composite components, supplying the hull and deck. Yachting World described the 43's hull as moulded in three pieces, with the side decks, aft and transom effectively part of the hull, a technique it said massively increases stiffness on such a narrow boat; the boat is very light at 6,100kg, and its first hull took a staggering 7,000 hours to build.
Who Shogun is for
Shogun's range is narrow and recent: two models, one design partnership, and production that has already shifted once, from a historic Swedish yard to a Finnish specialist. It suits buyers drawn to a specific formula — carbon construction and a Södergren-designed hull, backed by the performance pedigree Håkan Södergren built over a career of fast coastal cruiser/racers — rather than a large lineup to choose from.
