Welcome Jan Rossa

Hi Jan! We’re so excited to have you join Kinetic this year. Can you give us an overview of your history in the yacht building industry?

 I started my career in boatbuilding at the family owned boatyard “Henningsen&Steckmest” in a town named Kappeln on the German Baltic Sea Cost. I did a 4 year apprenticeship and also went to boatbuilding college finishing with a masters certificate. Highlights in my career have been a term of office as chief boat builder for Southern Wind Shipyard , non shareholding junior partner in Acheson - Rossa Custom Yachts, boatbuilding manager at Gumboat in Cape Town and technical manager for HH Catamarans in China. Shorter stints have been the build of a 55ft carbon catamaran in Thailand and working as chief boatbuilder for Daedalus Yachts in the United States.

How did your passion for boat building come about and was it always something you envisioned yourself doing?

I started sailing as an 8 year old boy. My mates and I rigged up a rowing dory using salvaged materials including discarded bedsheets for sails and washing line as stays. The dory had no daggerboard and an oar to steer. We had to push it upwind with lots of labor involved along the beach for the a short ride back. The poor sailing performance called for the addition of a daggerboard case, dagger board , rudder and taller rig. This was done with my carpenter grandfathers supervision and this is how I ended up building boats for a living.

You have an impressive background in the industry, can you tell us how it’s impacted you and prepared you for your role in our company?

In most cases I have joined companies during the start up phase and helped to make production work and establish the brand in the marketplace. In young companies internal control structures are typically in undeveloped stages too so it requires from team members in key positions to take on more responsibility than “normal”  on a broad base covering all trades and departments involved. Instead of for a specific area only one would take on responsibility for a project as a whole.

I was obliged to do just that in previous positions. Being able to cover all aspects of state of the art builds in the field of high performance catamarans combined with many years experience in key role positions plus a in depth knowledge of the product should be good preparation for the role in Kinetic Catamarans.

Your favourite experiences whilst working in this industry?

Seeing workers turn into confident and experienced craftsmen is one of them. Secondly witnessing company's where I was involved as a key role player gaining a high reputation in the marketplace combined with sustained success in sales. (= of course translating into bright economic futures of a companies and job security for workers).

Receiving positive feed back from happy owners was also a favourite experience or if boats won major races which they did occasionally.

You’ve moved across the world to Knysna, South Africa, to join us. What is it about Kinetic that inspired you to make this massive move?

 There are 2 points which have inspired me:

1) Kinetic is undertaking to build modern state of the art carbon fibre catamarans in South Africa. The company has a similar mission statement like Gunboat or HH Catamarans where I spent many productive and happy years. I can easily identify with the mission statement and am positive that the company will succeed long term. I can keep on doing what I like doing so to say.

2) South African boatbuilding:  I have worked on 4 continents over the years (Europe, Africa, Asia and America) South African boatbuilding is well positioned with good infrastructure and motivated and skilled craftsmen. Others in the industry may dispute this claim. They are wrong. I have been there and know what I am talking about. There are not many companies on an international level which have ventured into this specialised field of boatbuilding. This is for good reasons: Skilled and motivated people and the required infrastructure to build lightweight carbon fibre catamarans for the upper end of the market are not readily available everywhere.

 In short: I am undertaking this massive move because Kinetic Catamaran has set out to build a type of boat which is close to my heart and the fact that the company is based in South Africa where the required skills and infrastructure are available. In addiction the favourable exchange rate should give the industry here an advantage over other countries. It’s a combination of positive factors.

What will your primary role be at Kinetic Catamarans, and what do you hope to achieve at Kinetic?

My primary role will be production management and I hope I can contribute positively to establish the brand as a top brand internationally.

What is it that most interests you about the Kinetic Catamarans, and what are you most excited about getting stuck into? 

What interests me most is the concept of building light weight high performance catamarans in the first place and then in particular the Kinetic concept of maximising interior living and storage space combined with design features for shorthanded cruising. The Kinetic concept produces the largest living space on a boat of it’s size ever seen. The design also incorporates uncompromising features keeping sailing hardware off the deck and mainsail in boom furling as a concept from day one, allowing for short handed cruising. Others typically modify arrangements as an afterthought.

I am most exited about getting stuck into making sure that construction details and build quality match the required standards but keeping weight to a minimum at the same time.

You have extensive experience with carbon yachts, what sets Kinetic apart that excites you?

Kinetic Catamarans is a fairly new company with a very high level of motivation to become recognised as a top yard. This level of motivation sets it apart from others. I appreciate that just to produce any kind of boat and to collect revenue is not good enough.

Kinetic Catamarans is uncompromising when it comes to quality, is this something that aligns with your values as well?

I have spent my entire career striving to make sure quality is of the best in the market.

What appeals to you about the Kinetic brand and family?

I find it very appealing that the company recognises the contribution of all members of staff and opts to motivate members of the team rather than attempting to enforce discipline.