Jeffery Howland From Cape Horn Yachts

Not many people can say that they have survived four hurricanes at sea. How many builders could say the same about their ships? Enter Jeffery Howland and  Cape Horn Yachts, one of the toughest ships in the boating industry. Any builder can name their ships after a treacherous area on the ocean. Can those deliver the performance the name implies? Maybe. Are Cape Horn Yachts up to the challenge of their namesake? Given the experience and enthusiasm that Mr. Howland brings to the company, the answer is obvious.

Director of sales and marketing. That was the answer I received when I asked Mr. Howland what his official title was. Official maybe but not an accurate assessment to say the least. After talking for just a few minutes it was obvious that a more appropriate title would be " Director of Everything and Anything and Then Some".   

    "I was in the medical sales field for many years. I retired, bought a motorhome and was traveling around the country. A friend of mine got in touch with me. This guy was always buying new boats. He was all excited and wanted to show me his latest. He also bought the company and wanted me to go to work for him."

    Mr. Howland's friend is none other than Michael Barnard. Mr. Barnard was so impressed with his yacht that, much like a popular ad on television, he bought the company. Mr. Howland relocated from his Northern Michigan home to Florida and guess what? I think he likes it quite a bit!

    I admitted right up front to Mr. Howland that I was very ignorant about a lot of aspects larger ships, especially trawlers designed for trans-oceanic use. These are not the yachts that never leave the dock, which are the types I'm accustomed to.

    Many people cringe when the world trawler is mentioned. They don't have the baby-bottom smooth hulls that fiberglass is known for. Trawlers are not fast. Worst of all? They are just too damn safe and no fun. Let's face facts. A displacement hull can't compete with a planning hull in the fun department, right? I plead guilty. That perception disappeared in the first few minutes of our conversation. The interiors are absolutely stunning. The finish work on the steel hulls rivals that of fiberglass. Safe? Cape Horn Yachts are overbuilt, probably more so than many others in the boating industry. And that allows you to go places that you couldn't before. Now that's fun.

    When I pointed out how impressed I was with the interiors and how perfect the woodwork was, it was quite obvious that Mr. was expecting such a reaction. The craftsmanship of the interiors is something that the company is very proud of.   

     "You can have the interior woodwork finished any way you want as long as it's cherry. When a ship is delivered, it is complete right down to the linens. The first ships that were being built were designed one at a time. This was expensive and it took a long time to build each boat. Now the ships are built to inventory.  Most of the structure and drives are standardized. The yachts are semi-custom which allows us to change certain things to suit a customer. Of course if the customer wants we will custom build up to 120 feet"

     But even the best yachts in the world are useless if you can't get them to your customers in a timely fashion.

     "We can deliver a Cape Horn Yacht, depending on the model, in 12 to 18 months. That is from start to finish. There aren't too many builders that can do that."

     I admit I was a little surprised at that time frame. No, I think impressed would be a better way of putting it especially since it is certainly not indicative of the quality. I was really surprised at the price. Obviously these are very general. The CHY 65 goes for around 3 million and the CHYY 82 for around 4.5 million. That's turn key! The yachts are typically sold direct although a few have been available via broker. And while sales for smaller recreational boats has declined in the past few years, it is Mr. Howland's opinion that "sales of higher end yachts seems to have stayed steady and even grown." Cape Horn Yachts is certainly in that enviable position.

     A visit to the web-site www.capehornyachts.com  will require food and beverage at hand and a very comfortable chair because you will want to take your time. Unlike many other companies, a great deal of the photos are of customer's ships in real world conditions. If you are interested in some of the technical features of the ships (about 50% of buyers are their own crew), there is a great pdf file. It's perfect for folks like myself. I love to know how things work but lack the gray matter to get into any serious manuals. I belong to that 50% that would rather let a Captain handle the chores.

     It struck me as being a little odd that yachts of this quality aren't seen in advertisements in high profile boating and yachting magazines.

     "We

 found that our return on the dollar wasn't that high. Most of our business is because of word of mouth"

     That is true, but I think a large part is because of the attitude Cape Horn Yachts (or lack of, depending on how you look at it). At most boat shows, to see a yacht one must have an appointment or arrangements made to go inside. That isn't the way it should be according to Mr. Howland.

     " I didn't get to see any of the Ft. Lauderdale show. I was inside showing group after group of people. You can never tell who your next buyer will be." (He did mention that it turns out that a gentleman wearing clothing that you wouldn't expect to see on someone in the market for a multi-million dollar yacht).

      It's so much fun to come across people in the marine industry that really enjoy trying to make their company the best that it can be. Jeffery Howland and Cape Horn Yachts most certainly fall into that category.

                              Cape Horn Yachts - real ships for going to sea!

We have to put in the legal stuff.               

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