SHARED PASSIONS

Heesen executives Robert Drontmann and Mark Cavendish combine a love of sailing and a passion for building superyachts in their own very special ways

TEXT BY BILL SPRINGER

The large, luxurious, fully crewed yachts that Heesen builds are quite different from the sailing craft that company senior executives Robert Drontmann and Mark Cavendish own and spend of their free time on.

But after seeing how both of them bring their shared love of sailing, adventure, the sea, and spending quality time on the water with their families, it’s obvious that their passion for sailing informs and inspires their passion for superyacht shipbuilding. And their bond as sailors helps them gel as a team, and makes work more fun too.

The racer

To say Heesen sales director Robert Drontmann loves to sail is a bit of an understatement. He was world champion in the Cadet in Melbourne in 1985, represented Holland in the 470 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and continues to be an avid racer in numerous small boat classes today. He says he gets his love of sailing from his father, but he didn’t want to talk about the past when we spoke. He was too excited -- Holland was expecting its first big freeze of the winter that weekend.

“I love sailing on ice as much as I love sailing on water,” he says. “The speed is amazing. Since there is basically zero drag, I can hit 80 to 100km/h in my small and simple DN iceboat. The sound the skates make and being so close to the ice is phenomenal. And there are tactics and sporty elements when you're racing. Maybe the best part is I just love being part of the crazy community of ice boaters who drop everything to sail when the ice is good.”

And while Mark may not be as keen an ice boater, Robert is grateful to work so closely with someone who shares his simple passion for all types of sailing. “I did a very nice race with Mark a couple of years ago,” he says. “It was fun. We share all sorts of connections that are special – work, sailing, what we like to do our holidays.

“I'm also lucky in that all my family members, on both my wife's side and my side, have boats. So we do lots of sailing with the family too.

“And, while I never talk much about the Olympics,” he continues, “it’s great to be reminded how I used to compete all over the world when I was younger. That experience helps with my job as well. Having sailed in many of the places our clients are from or would like to visit on their yachts is a great asset when we talk about how they want to use their new boat and where they want to go.”

The English yachtsman

Heesen ECO Mark Cavendish has worked in Holland for years, but the way he talks about his sailing history is as English as it could be.

“Well,” he says with his very proper English accent, “I actually left school at the age of 16, went into the British Merchant Navy and had my 17th birthday on a ship in Bombay Harbour.” How English is that?

“I was in the Merchant Navy for about five years training as a navigating officer, and then worked on big cargo ships sailing all over the world for a while before I left all that and bought a sailing yacht of my own. I actually sailed quite a bit in the Mediterranean. Then I captained a 110-foot motor yacht at the ripe old age of... God, I don't know, I was probably about 23. It was called the Henry Morgan, which I was hired to take to Los Angeles from Monte Carlo. Needless to say, the boat needed some work and we never did make it all the way to Los Angeles.

“I captained a couple of other boats in the Mediterranean but got bored of it when I was about 25. That’s when I came ashore and worked as a yacht broker, and then at a shipyard in Italy, and now Heesen. But pretty much most of our married life we've had a boat one way or another. When we were in Italy, we had motorboats. My last boat was a 47-foot Grand Soleil sailboat.

When I ask Mark what makes sailing so special for him, he struggles for an answer. “The problem is,” he says, “it's everything. I enjoy being out there. Switching the engine off. Getting the boat to sail as best you can. I enjoy the navigation because I enjoy working out the most efficient route. I love looking at the log and just watching the speed go from six, seven, eight, nine, maybe ten knots. If you get the tidal races in the English Channel right, going around the Channel Islands, you can get the boat doing well over ten knots over the ground with the tide underneath you.

And after all that, there's nothing more exciting than wending your way into a new harbour and going ashore for a beer or some breakfast.

Then you explore the area and move on. It's an adventure. It's just an endless adventure, you can keep doing it forever.”

And luckily, Robert and Mark are the experts to talk to when you want to have your own adventures, and see the world from the deck of a Heesen.