01907 Winter 2022

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10 | <strong>01907</strong> The seaworthy life of Arne Heitmann BY EMMA FRINGUELLI PHOTOS BY SPENSER HASAK You wouldn’t know that 97-year-old Arne Heitmann is a completely selftaught shipwright, especially not when you see the 34-foot-long powerboat he is building in his side yard. Over the past 81 years, Heitmann has been mastering his craft, one he began teaching himself at the age of 16. It was then that he launched his first boat onto the water — or into the water, rather, as a missing pin caused the boat to sink. Once he got the water out and the pin in, Heitmann’s boat caught the attention of the Weymouth Yacht Club, whose members gave him a free membership. He has continued to stun people with his creations in the eight decades since. Heitmann’s boats are all original designs, straight from his imagination. After spending time in the Navy and working as a jet engine engineer at General Electric, it is the freedom to create something on his own terms that helps him relax. He considers what he wants in a boat and then he makes it — answering to no one but himself. “You think: what do you want to accomplish with the boat? What sleeping accommodations do you need? Where do you put the propulsion engines? Those things, you add them up, and it develops the boat design…. The fact that I can create something from scratch — that creativity is what I enjoy. Nothing more than that.” Even if they are “selfish” pursuits, as Heitmann put it, the designs have captivated people around Swampscott for years. Susan Heitmann, Arne’s daughter-inlaw, recalled hearing stories of the entire neighborhood gathering at his house to watch his boats leave for the harbor. She said strangers would come up to the family while they were out on Cape Cod with the boats and ask about the builder, remarking how impressive his boats were. But Heitmann doesn’t care what people think, compliments or not. “It’s something that satisfies me, I don’t worry about other people. I just enjoy the process…. I don’t try to impress anybody. It’s very selfish, I just want to please myself.” At 97-years-old, Heitmann says he builds boats for the thrill of launching them into the harbor, nothing more, nothing less. It is the satisfaction of creating something and watching it work just as intended that makes all the labor worthwhile. “When the boat gets launched and it floats, that’s the most exciting part of it. Very exciting.” When Heitmann’s five children were young kids, they used to help him out with the building, but they have since moved on from helping their father build boats in their backyard, and his wife has passed away, but good memories still persist. He recalled an example of the support his wife, Cill — even in the less glamorous part of boat-building. “She did quite a bit! My wife was a great supporter of the things I did. When we would, for example, do some resin work, she would be down in the hull, slopping resin with me. And that’s not something a female likes to do, but she did.” Though boat-building is not the family’s forte, enjoying the boats Heitmann makes out onto the water is. Heitmann BUILDER, continued on page 14
WINTER <strong>2022</strong> | 11 Arne Heitmann sands down a piece of bulkhead for the powerboat he's building in his yard.
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Page 19 and 20: WINTER 2022 | 17 A military tower b
Page 21 and 22: Patsios, long-time resident of Swam
Page 23 and 24: WINTER 2022 | 21 Artist Richard Buc
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Page 27 and 28: Tricia Dunn, left, and Carol Connol
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Page 31 and 32: WINTER 2022 | 29 Charlie Patsios' S
Page 33 and 34: WINTER 2022 | 31 Halloween Zumba Fi
Page 35 and 36: WINTER 2022 | 33 But, Fahad Bashir
Page 37 and 38: WINTER 2022 | 35 Formerly located o
Page 39 and 40: Work With an Agent Who Will Do More

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