Sensible people have questioned my wits, establishing a business operation in a market so competitive that only 50 or 100 persons can make a living of it in the world. Still, my first years have been unusually successful. A few highlights:
# I was winner of the professional category of Yachting World Design Competition 1995 with the design Freja. This design has since been published in Yachting World (GB) Sailing (USA) and a number of other magazines and books, and was selected as reference yacht in the new edition of The Lore of Ships (Swe/USA).
# My largest design so far is a 61’ sailing yacht built in Holland to Lloyd’s HCC, presently being fitted out in Sweden. Published in The World of Sail 1998.
# I have designed the new Fantasi 44 Classic and Fantasi 44 Pilothouse, published so far in Yachting Monthly, Yacht, Meer & Yachten, The World of Sail 2000,Yachting World, and more. In the Yachting World rally (September 1999), she was tested against 7 cruising yachts of the “Bluewater Élite” and “succeeded with ease by presenting the most detailed package of innovative ideas and fresh thinking of the fleet”. Deputy Editor David Glenn described her as “100 per cent pure seduction”. In the Southampton Boat Show report (November 1999) she was the ‘Editor’s Choice’ in a fleet of 20 cruising yachts between 40 and 45 feet.
Fantasi 44 is built to supreme standards by Jacobssons Båtbyggeri – a yard best known for building the greatest number of large, one-off sailing yachts in Sweden.
# My design Constance was recently runner-up in the second major international design competition during the nineties, and the biggest ever with 212 entries, Yachting Monthly’s (GB) Starter Boat 2000. Constance is a milestone design in a few respects and has been featured in a number of other publications. Two different projects are underway as a result of the interest stirred up by this little boat.
# One idea seems to inspire another and I have a number of innovations, design concepts and new designs in the pipeline. Current projects include a 42’ yawl for the Pacific, designed for a Japanese client, a 70’ recreation of L. Francis Herreshoff’s Ticonderoga for an Irish client, a 26’ cruiser-racer, a modern 10-meter R-yacht for the Bodensee, and a couple of projects for production yards.
# In every new design, I aim to be ahead of the competition in terms of comfort, performance, handling and appearance – not in one respect, but most of them, at the same time!
# “Classic” design is a much used and abused term today. The word does not mean that the appearance of a boat has to be reminiscent of one particular, say 1930’s, era. If well executed, the shapes of today can be just as intriguing. More important, all shapes have to be for a purpose, matching form and function.
# Some designers are technically advanced; others do pastiches, boats that look older than they are. I find myself on my own in a new market position; offering classic yachts with cutting-edge technology. As an example, a patent for a new rudder principle is on its way, funded by the national Innovation Centre.
# I intend to establish a more firm position in the international scene over the next years. In order to cope with greater assignments, my company has a network of associates who can add specialised competence in all areas.
# In spite of high ambitions, I will not become another mainstream designer. Therefore, I am interested in collaborating with customers and builders who also aim beyond producing just another standard white boat.
Gabriel Heyman
HEYMAN YACHT DESIGN
Nya Varvet, byggnad 85D, S-426 71 V.Frölunda; SWEDEN.
Telephone +46 - 31 69 00 03. Fax + 46 - 31 69 17 69
