A LOT OF THINGS, HAPPY AND LESS SO, HAVE HAPPENED SINCE WE LAST WROTE A CATALOG LETTER LIKE THIS. 
We lost Olaf Harken who passed away after a noble battle with Parkinson’s Disease. His wisdom will walk our hallways 
forever. We also lost Patrick Rieupeyrout, Managing Director of Harken France and a giant in French sailing; we miss 
him tremendously. Then COVID-19 descended with its demands on Harken and sailors everywhere. Throughout it all, 
we at Harken did what we do: We faced a fi erce headwind but persevered, working hard to build something better.
The best news from Harken? In this past year, we proudly accomplished the handoff of the ownership of the company 
from Peter and Olaf’s family to the U.S. employees with the formation of an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan).
Harken will always be Peter and Olaf’s company, but it is now in the care and custody of their employees. We all 
believe this is the best way to achieve stability and provide for our employees’ future while letting Harken continue to 
be Harken. Importantly, the transition allows for continued growth. In September 2020, we welcomed our longtime 
Dutch partners, On Deck, to the global Harken team.
Possibly the best part of this is that Peter is now an employee…and needs to punch in like the rest of us!
Through it all, we’ve proven (as we did during the global economic crisis of the early 2000s when we brought U.S. 
production inside the company and built our U.S. and Italian factories): during challenging times, you can count on 
Harken to keep innovating. This time, due to many unsung heroes, we’ve been able to keep doing what we do without 
major interruption. And we’ve designed and launched important new products…Grand Prix winches, hydraulics, 
and a new cruising furler line—all over the past 13 months.
  
Our stability actually keeps us up at night. How can you be both ‘solid’ and transform sailing at the same time?
We rely on a document we call our Weather Mark to navigate situations like these. This time we’re leaning on the 
second element, “Make the best products at a fair price.” We hope we’re right about this: If the products truly are 
the best, then nobody’s just buying Harken because it’s the safest decision. 
 Here’s the whole Weather Mark:
  
Keep the well-being of your people fi rst.
  
Make the best products at a fair price.
  
Service your customers beyond their expectations.
  
 Never lose the basic judgment you’ve been taught: 
your sense of right from wrong.
  These are our values. This is Harken. Our future is in our own hands 
thanks to the vision of our founders. With focus on the horizon, we sail from here.

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