references but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message harken inc. type private industry sailing commercial marine work at height utilities access and rescue wind power architectural stage and theater contract manufacturing canvas storage solutions founded 1967 founders peter harken olaf harken headquarters pewaukee wisconsin u.s. area served worldwide key people peter harken chairman olaf harken chairman john jensen cfo website www.harken.com harken inc. is an international manufacturer specializing in performance sailing hardware and industrial solutions headquartered in pewaukee wisconsin united states . the company was founded in a 60 foot trailer in 1967 by brothers peter harken and olaf harken . originally the brothers manufactured sailboats under the name vanguard and kept the hardware business separate so they could sell to competing boatbuilders . gary comer founder of lands end clothing company advised and helped them distribute their first blocks by placing them in the lands end catalogue . in 1986 vanguard sailboats was spun off to stephen clark in rhode island so that the brothers could focus on hardware . harken hardware has been a dominant force in the racing segment for many years making its olympic and america s cup debuts in 1976 and 1977 respectively . harken s primary manufacturing plants are the pewaukee headquarters and the italian office in limido comasco como . harken has sales and service offices in usa rhode island california florida france japan poland slovenia sweden australia new zealand and the united kingdom . today harken racing equipment is known as a high quality brand among sailors worldwide . harken equipment may be found on racing boats as small as the 7 foot optimist dinghy to mega yachts and ocean racers . references edit harken named company of the decade . boats.com ; december 10 2000 . decker eric . harken s innovation created international market for sailing gear . small business times ; june 23 2006 . sailing world hall of fame sailing world magazine . april 24 2002 . sailing world magazine . ernst & young 2008 entrepreneurs of the year . twin cities business ; august 2008 . anchored our way pewaukee sail accessory maker hopes to expand at home . the milwaukee journal ; august 12 2007 . rovito rich . harken yacht sails high seas of growth . the business journal of milwaukee ; june 30 2006 . honor roll of u.s. exporters . business america ; march 12 1990 . honor roll of u.s. exporters president s e award . business america ; april 5 1993 . saving sailing . sailing anarchy ; september 16 2009 . bednarek david . sailing around the world harken wins national award for its success with exports . the milwaukee journal ; august 16 1993 . albert daniel . sail by wire . popular science ; november 1991 . maloney lawrence . sailing into the future . design news ; june 17 1991 . cole tim . no sitting duck . popular mechanics ; august 1990 . concept yacht . popular mechanics ; august 1986 . quandt matt . local library gets an observatory . astronomy.com blog ; may 22 2009 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title harken inc. & oldid 740303384 categories sailing equipmentamerican boat builderscompanies based in wisconsinwaukesha county wisconsinhidden categories articles lacking in text citations from october 2015all articles lacking in text citations navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 20 september 2016 at 07 02 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view