The Royal Huisman Shipyard was established in 1884 in Ronduite as a builder of wooden workboats and fishing boats. In 1954 Jan Huisman specialized in steel sailing yachts, and his son Wolter transitioned to aluminum hulls in 1964 with the 30 ft Van de Stadt Avenir series. In the 1970s the development of extruded aluminum masts and cooperation with New York designers Sparkman & Stephens (S&S) enabled Huisman to tap into performance yachts and the international racing circuit: The shipyard launched its largest yacht to date, the prize-winning 60 ft S&S sloop Running Tide, at its new deep-water premises in Vollenhove in 1970. 

In 1973 Huisman built Albert Henri Karl Büll’s first Saudade, the 47 ft S&S sloop which won the Admiral’s Cup for Germany in the same year. In 1976, the shipyard built Conny van Rietschoten’s 65 ft S&S ketch Flyer for the 1977–78 Whitbread Round the World Race, which she won. Their success was repeated in the 1981–82 Whitbread race with van Rietschoten’s new 76 ft Frers-designed sloop Flyer II which took line honors in all four legs.

Construction takes place in a 30.000 m² purpose-built facility with four building halls, a painting hall, a refit hall as well as manufacturing halls operated by Rondal, a subsidiary of Royal Huisman specialized in furlers, winches, deck fittings, and pre-impregnated carbon fiber spars and superyacht components.