Vanguard Sailboats

Vanguard Sailboats
Type	Private
Industry	Sailing
Founded	Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA (1967)
Founders	Peter Harken, Olaf Harken
Headquarters	Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA
Website	www.laserperformance.com

Vanguard Sailboats was one of the most successful sailboat builders. It was founded in 1967, and is now owned by LaserPerformance.

History

Vanguard Sailboats was founded in 1967 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA by Peter and Olaf Harken. The brothers started to gain attention after their sailing hardware was used on boats that won Olympic gold in 1968 and after Vanguard supplied the Finn class for several countries in the 1976 Olympics. The hardware segment was maintained somewhat separately, as it was marketed to competing boat builders. In 1986, the Harkens sold Vanguard to Stephen Clark, who moved the business to Rhode Island. The brothers focused their efforts on the performance sailing hardware business in Pewaukee, WI under the name Harken, Inc., while Vanguard continued in boat building.

In March 1997, Vanguard Sailboats, Inc., bought Sunfish Laser, Inc., which built the Laser, Sunfish and 49er sailboats.^[1]^[2]

In 2007 Vanguard Sailboats was acquired by Performance Sailcraft Europe. The combined company is known as LaserPerformance.

Today

LaserPerformance now builds and sells a wide range of racing and recreational sailboat dinghies, including the Laser, Laser Pico, Sunfish, 49er, Club FJ, Club 420, Vanguard 15, Dart 16, and Optimist. ^[3]

Their most famous boat models are the Sunfish, created by Alexander Bryan and Cortlandt Heyniger in 1952 under the name Alcort, and the Laser designed by Bruce Kirby in 1970.

LaserPerformance manufactures 17 classes, including several Olympic classes.

Sailing Community

LaserPerformance is very active in the sailing community and is a major sponsor of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association, the organization that governs college sailing in North America. Most colleges and universities sail fleets of 420s, Flying Juniors or Vanguard 15s. Additionally, LaserPerformance is a sponsor of many adult and junior sailing regattas.

References

External links

Company website

Boats marketed by LaserPerformance

One-person dinghies	Laser 4.7 Laser Bug Laser Funboat Laser Pico Laser Radial Laser Standard Laser Vago Sunfish Vapor Optimist

Two-person dinghies	Club 420 Bahia Laser Vago

Multihulls	Dart 16

Keelboats	Laser Stratos Keel

Discontinued models	Dart 15 Dart 20 Stampede Dart 6000 Dart Hawk (F18) Laser 2 Laser 13 Laser 16 Laser 28 Laser 4000 Laser 5000 Laser EPS Laser Stratos (Centreboard) Laser Vortex

No longer associated with Laser	Dart 18 Laser SB3 (SB20) Laser 2000 Laser 3000 (V3000)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, October 30, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.