From High School Dropout to Master Yacht Designer

‘Say yes to every opportunity that comes your way,’ says Ron Holland

(R to L) Ron Holland aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle in 2017, with Capt. Matt Meilstrup and Lt. Cmdr. Brooke Millard. courtesy of Ron Holland Design

Ron Holland became lost at sea one night when he was 11. He’d been sailing his dinghy, the Tempo, in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. He found himself marooned in the middle of a shipping lane, a couple of miles from shore, drifting, with no wind to speak of.

He thought of his mother. That made him cry.