Cape Yachts

252 Elm Street
South Dartmouth MA 02748 USA
Phone: 1-508-994-4444
Email: info@capeyachts.com
Website: https://www.capeyachts.com

Dave and Jane Nolan, own Cape Yachts with two locations in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and Newport, Rhode Island as well as South Wharf Yacht Yard & Marina in Dartmouth, MA. Prior to being in the boating business, Dave was a CPA with Price Waterhouse. Thirty-five years ago in 1986, Dave fell in love with sailing and the waters of Nantucket. Wanting to run his own business, he decided to leave public accounting to found Cape Water Sports on Cape Cod. Soon after it became the largest Sunfish, Hobie Cat and Windsurfing shop in the Northeast. Three years later, Dave added Beneteau, Catalina, O’Day, Cal and Pearson to his stable of brands and changed the name of the business to Cape Yachts.

Growth, spurred on by the kind of expertise and service unique to Cape Yachts, continued through the 1990s making Cape Yachts the largest Beneteau dealership in North America with locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. During that time, Cape Yachts also began winning the coveted Beneteau President’s Award for superior sales and service – something we have been doing for 18 consecutive years.

In 2006, Dave purchased the historic South Wharf Yard in Padanaram Village of South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, saving the yard from being shut down due to decades of environmental impact. This location, steeped in yachting history, was a key American shipyard during an important era in the marine industry. Founded by an Act of the Boston Congress in 1832, South Wharf has been the site of whale ship building by Mathew, Mashow & Co. as well as Ray Hunt’s drafting office where Ray designed the Concordia Yawl and worked on his famous Deep V hull, that revolutionized the marine industry. The village of Padanaram is also where Herman Melville did a good bit of research for his classic ‘Moby Dick.’

South Wharf Yacht Yard & Marina has since been upgraded and overhauled by Dave and now also serves as headquarters for Cape Yachts. The yard’s marina boasts 90 protected slips and 4 wharfs that can accommodate vessels up to 130 feet.

Mark Barrett

252 Elm Street
South Dartmouth MA 02748 USA
Office: 1-508-994-4444
Email: mbarrett@capeyachts.com

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” The Water Rat to The Mole in Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Mark grew up in a boating family on Long Island Sound and has worked in different aspects of the marine industry his entire life, as a dock boy, launch driver, service technician, sailboat rigger, delivery captain, sailing instructor and now yacht broker. His real passion is cruising along the New England Coast, which he has done for the past forty-plus years in a variety of his own boats, both power and sail.

“I always knew that when I got too old to do the physical work on boats, I would try to use my hard-earned experience to help people find the right boat for their needs. At Cape Yachts we have the finest boat lines, a wide-ranging brokerage inventory, and an extremely experienced sales and service team. If you are interested in buying or selling a boat, you came to the right place!”