Plain sailing for Hein
2007-08-16
Lise Beyers
THERE are few people who will take the plunge and sacrifice a promising career to follow their heart. But Hein van Rensburg of Paarl did just that.
For the past five years Hein has been single-handedly building his dream - a yacht that will eventually be used as a mould for many more.
Hein’s love affair with the sea started when he was a naval cadet in Durban.
“I learnt to sail on a hoby-cat and I was immediately hooked.
“There is nothing that beats the feeling of being out in the middle of the ocean on a yacht and having the wind move gently through the sails.”
After service in the navy Hein went on to study mechanical engineering at Stellenbosch University and thereafter started work at a packaging company in Paarl.
“I could just not get the sea out of my mind and still sailed as often as I could.
“Eventually I realised that sitting in an office would drive me crazy and when an opportunity arose to sail to the Caribbean with a friend, I left everything behind and set off.”
And so Hein spent a number of years sailing the world. When he eventually returned to his home in Paarl, he found an attractive young woman, Mabeth, living in his house.
“I couldn’t exactly evict her, so instead, I married her.
“Because of my engineering background I became very interested in the mechanics of yachts and their structures.
“I also realised that the price of yachts are very high and I became determined to design and build something which would be more affordable.
“I had a warehouse in Joostenberg Vlakte where I started to build my first boat, but the boat I had designed was too big for the general sailor, so I started from scratch and designed another one.
“For the past five years I have painstakingly been working on this project.”
When crime threatened his workshop in Joostenberg, he moved everything to the backyard of his home in the heart of Paarl. Here he continues to build his dream.
During the move last November, he brought Paarl’s Main Street to a halt when transporting his semi-built yachts to his home.
It is an awesome site to see the giant yacht parts scattered around the workshop.
Mabeth shares her husband's passion for boats, but she says that she was not aware that it was going to take so long.
“Hein is extremely meticulous and if something is not 100% to his satisfaction, he will start from scratch and not finish until it is perfect. And he wants his boat to be just that - perfect.
“He has also achieved so much with limited resources.”
Hein says that he should be finished with his boat within the next year and from then on it will hopefully be plain sailing.
“So don’t be surprised when you once again see a large yacht being carted through the streets of Paarl. But this will be a completed one and will be on its way to be launched.
“And one day when my boat building days come to an end, I will then gently sail into the sunset.”
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