4 September 2019

Built in 1986, the Fango Heimana II was the last boat owned by Henri Amel, the founder of Chantiers AMEL. This sloop measuring almost 10 meters was produced on a small scale compared to its contemporary and bigger sisters, the Sharki, Maramu and Mango. In addition, the Heimana II was a special Fango and had been fitted with unusual equipment: like the bigger boats, she had an electric furling mast, a bow thruster and even a stern thruster, a desalinator, a fuel heater and air conditioning, as well as all the navigation and communication equipment at the forefront of 80s technology … in short, a real gem!

Retired at our shipyard since the disappearance of her “Captain”, the Heimana II suffered from not being restored and returned to the water. Fortunately, a former AMEL shipyard worker, now retired but an outstanding mechanic, who had sailed a lot with Henri Amel, recently decided to bring this historic Fango back to life. For about 6 months now, this enthusiast has been coming to work on the boat almost every day and spends hours restoring her mechanical devices, electricity, plumbing, doing a few polyester repairs, touching up some things inside (while she had still kept her original brilliance, especially her varnished mahogany).

A few weeks ago, Heimana II was hoisted to be put into our control pool (next to an Amel 50, she seemed so proud!). A real christening in the air, suspended at the end of this huge crane, 30 metres high and skimming over trees!

She just has to wait a few more days and then she can finally get back into salt water. We can’t wait to see her set sail in the ocean again!