Nord West Composites was born in 1996 when French born Philippe Naudet decided to use his America's Cup (www.ledefi.com) experience to build a Montana-Made Drift Boat.

Philippe came from the D-Day's beaches of Normandy where his grandfather was an ocean fisherman 70 years ago. His grandfather used a similar heavy built type of drift boat called a "plate", and rowed out every night braving the cold, bad weather and rough sea to bring in the early morning cod, flander, mackerel and other species of fish to raise his family. Philippe remembers he started rowing this type of boat when he was seven years old.

His journeys since then have taken him across several oceans and deep blue seas, as well as participating in the construction of serveral ocean racing boats - including the boat of three time winner of the Race Around the World, Christophe Auguin (http://www.aroundalone.com). His latest experiences have been with the French team of the America's Cup in San Diego, California where he worked with hi-tech composite materials.

His wife brought him to Montana where he can exercise his talent and experience of boat building. He designed the Nord West Drifter with safety in mind, recalling the exceptional stability of his grandfather's "plate". He built it strong and light as a race boat, and included a tremendous volume of dry storage for a drift boat - all with a level of skill and workmanship that is unsurpassed.