De Keizer

Kees de Keizer, owner of one of the smallest members of the FHF, captures perfectly the excitement of finding a classic Feadship in his interview in PILOT. He is no stranger to Feadship, having worked on a number of current-day builds as an owner’s rep. But to realise that the boat you have seen moored on a canal opposite your office in Amsterdam is also a Feadship was a great surprise – especially as Kees had already bought her for restoration! “I instantly texted Henk de Vries saying: ‘you’re never going to believe what I’ve found!’ I also discovered that Henri de Voogt initially designed Robert-Jan in 1928 but had no funds to build her due to the recession. Four years later he made a deal with the De Vries yard in Aalsmeer to build the boat in steel: This is a small yacht with a big history!”