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
Portsmouth, 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. In 2007 Vanguard Sailboats was acquired by Performance Sailcraft Europe. The combined company is known as
LaserPerformance. ==Sailing Community==