He is the only man in the New Zealand synchronised skating team with 17 women.
Howie (20), a Japanese and Spanish language student at the University of Otago, is a member of the New Zealand team selected for the World Synchronised Skating Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, from April 1-5.
He learnt to skate at the age of 4 at the Alexandra Ice Rink as part of the local kindergarten's winter sports programme.
Figure skating has always been a sport that attracts more women than men, and Howie is one of a minority of New Zealand males who have the magic touch and excel on the ice.
He does not think it is special to be surrounded by so many women.
"There has always been a big gender difference in the sport.
"I'm used to it," Howie told the Otago Daily Times.
"It doesn't make any difference."
Howie is a member of the first national team sent by the New Zealand Ice Skating Association to the world championships.
"I'm excited abut the prospects but I'm not really nervous," Howie said.
"I'm determined to prove that New Zealand skaters can perform well in the international arena."
Provincial teams from Dunedin, Auckland, Christchurch and Gore have competed at Australian championships in the past.
The team has 18 skaters.
They will perform a technical short programme of 2min 50sec and a long programme of 4min 30sec.
The other Dunedin members of the team are Rose Gleeson (16), Megan Kliegl (18), Brylie Meng (18), Lisa Stevens (20) and Kim Kubala (20).
Howie trains at the Dunedin Ice Stadium six days a week.
He has competed at the Australian championships for the past five years and won the novice pairs with Katherine Gregory in 2004 and the junior pairs with Morgan Figgins last year.
His next goal is to compete in the pairs with Figgins at next year's world skating championships.
New Zealand coach Robi Chalmers said Howie was a very good single figure skater and a very good team player.
The team members, from Gore, Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland, first came together in December and are in Dunedin this week training with their coach. Synchronised skating took a step towards Olympic status when it was selected to be part of the World University Games as a demonstration sport.
For a synchronised team to flow in unison, individual skaters must possess certain skills, including speed, footwork and ice presence.
Synchronised skating combines the beauty and elegance of freestyle skating and the excitement of a team sport, but it takes hours of work to blend between 12 and 20 skaters into one unit.
Finland is the defending champion, and 20 countries are expected at the world championships.
The Dunedin Ice Skating Club is holding a skating spectacular at the Dunedin Ice Stadium on Saturday at 7.30pm to raise funds for the team.
