Nor-Tech At 35—Talking Flyers

The day before the 2014 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout began, Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats designer/co-founder Nils Johnsen and longtime salesman Terry Sobo treated speedonthewater.com co-publisher Jason Johnson to a ride in the then-brand-new 360 MC Flyer. Johnson was the first media-type to experience the stylish triple 300-hp Mercury Marine outboard-powered day-boat, and it’s safe to say he dug it.

Nor-Tech’s Flyer series of day-boats began with a 36-footer in 2011. Photos courtesy/copyright Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats.

“There’s no denying Nils Johnsen’s sense of style,” Johnson wrote at the time. “He has captivated customers for many years with his stunning performance boat design. The first model, with its attractive cerulean blue paint job and corresponding Mercury 300 Verado engines integrated so sleekly into the boat design, was built for Johnsen himself. He said he designed it to satisfy a variety of boating lifestyles—and he seems to have done just that.”

The first 460 Flyer was a closed-bow beauty.

Six years later, Nor-Tech released the 460 Flyer just ahead of the 2020 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. But the boat wasn’t unveiled during the Central Missouri event—it debuted in early October at the inaugural Roar Offshore Fun Run in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. Quad Mercury Racing 450R outboards powered the 46-foot, closed-deck beauty.

A year later, the company unveiled an open-cockpit version of the boat with a unique power-retractable hardtop and the same power package at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

“We do not expect to build a lot of 460 Flyers,” said Henrik Margård, Nor-Tech’s chief operating officer, before the show. “Our main business is still very much performance center consoles. But we do like to remind people of what we can do, and where we came from.”

The first open-cockpit 460 Flyer from Nor-Tech debuted during the 2021 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and ran the following year in the Boyne Thunder Poker Run. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

But Nor-Tech still wasn’t done with its Flyer series. In 2023, it built a 55 Flyer called Lady Lisa for repeat client Red Reynolds of Wisconsin. Reynolds previously owned an open-cockpit 80-foot sport yacht from Nor-Tech also called Lady Lisa.

As reported in this story series, he named both boats in honor of his daughter.