– LeComte Yachts Archive –

Company History :

The Dutch invented the “jaght” in the 17th century. Adolf “Dolf” LeComte came to the United States to show Americans that the Dutch built the best yachts.

After serving as a Dutch naval officer during the Second World War and subsequently in Southeast Asia, Dolf LeComte returned to the Netherlands, surveyed the market, and noted the boom in quality yachts in the US. After opening an office in New Rochelle, New York, in 1954, LeComte began selling semi-custom yachts to American clients under the name Holland-American Yachts. His range included motor yachts and steel-hulled ketches, wooden-hulled sailing yachts, and a custom multihull.

Capitalising on his growing reputation, Dolf established a trading company, Adolf LeComte Company, Inc., in the US, while LeComte-Holland, NV opened a yacht-building yard in Jutphaas, south of Utrecht, in the Netherlands. Contracts with yacht designers John Alden Co. led to the wooden construction of 33-foot Malabar Senior sloops and 42-foot Nordfarer yawls, followed by the completion of 38-foot Halmatic-moulded Challenger yawls.

In 1961, LeComte-Holland moved into exclusive fibreglass construction with the Medalist 33 sloop, followed in 1962 by the Northeast 38 sloop/yawl. Build quality was paramount, featuring solid glass hulls, Airex-cored decks, yacht-quality varnished interiors and handsome designs, all combined with competitive hull and rigging packages. In 1965, LeComte-Holland launched the 52-foot Oceanracer, the final Tripp design developed with LeComte. Alongside continuous yacht upgrades, a comprehensive redesign of hulls, rigging and interiors in 1966 kept these models current and popular.

In 1968, shortly after opening a modern construction facility in Vianen on the River Lek (just south of Jutphaas), the Luders-designed Fastnet 45 sloop/yawl joined the LeComte family. 1970 saw the phased withdrawal of the Medalist 33 in favour of the LeComte-designed ALC-35 sloop, and 1971 replaced the Northeast 38 with the ALC-40 sloop. 1973 brought the redesign of the Fastnet 45 into the ALC-46 sloop/ketch.

Meanwhile, LeComte-Holland undertook an active programme constructing military and commercial fibreglass craft, such as 20-meter pilot boats for Hoek van Holland, landing barges for the Dutch Navy, and fishing trawlers. These contracts gave the yard expertise in foam-cored hulls, which underpinned its later development of rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs), tunnel-hull landing barges and utility craft.

In 1963, Dolf LeComte purchased waterfront land in New Rochelle’s Lower Harbour, bulkheaded, dredged and filled it, and built a 32-berth marina. Alongside housing the sales office, Dolf developed a small team of skilled workers for commissioning and maintaining new yachts arriving from Holland. Incorporated as the Glen Island Yacht Club, berth holders benefited from having these craftsmen on-site for yacht maintenance.

Upon his retirement in 1994, Dolf LeComte closed LeComte-Holland and sold the Vianen property to a non-maritime industrial operator. Meanwhile, the New Rochelle marina appears to house West Harbor Yacht Service, managed by Dwight Le Comte – likely Dolf’s son.

Sources & useful links :

https://sailboatdata.com/builder/lecomte-yachts/

https://www.yachtdatabase.com/en/manufacturer.jsp?id=LeComte-Holland%2C+N.V.

https://web.archive.org/web/20181024060746/http://www.lecomteowners.com/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=67:lecomte

https://sailboat.guide/lecomte

https://web.archive.org/web/20070322003519/http://beckerlaurent.free.fr/ucap/philippe/p1.htm