I was born in South Africa from Dutch parents, completed a Civil Engineering degree at the University of Durban. Then chose to follow my passion for sailing which meant moving back to Holland. Sailing dream was to compete with an own team in the America's Cup. The route has included many goals in various sailing disciplines to achieve the required personal sailing development. These sailing campaigns and results include:Competed in 4 Olympic Games, 1988 in the Finn class (7th), 1992 in the Soling class match racing (18th), 1996 in the Finn (bronz medal) and 2000 in the Soling match racing (4th).Competed 3 years in the World Matchrace circuit, best result 2nd in the world championships, 2nd on the world ranking, the only non America's funded team in the top 10 of the circuit. Competed in 3 Volvo Ocean Races, 1997/98 as skipper of Brunel Sunergy, 2002/02 as part skipper of Assa Abloy, 2005/06 as Technical Director of the winning Team ABN AMRO campaign.Competed with BMW Oracle in the 2003 America's Cup in New Zealand as training boat helmsman and afterguard coach of the racing team.In conjunction with my topsport career, started the Heiner Sailing Academy to improve the sailing ability of club and Olympic sailors, Team Heiner to share the experience of topsport for business clients, and Team Heiner Management Programmes which uses the mirror of topsport processes as a window for company and employee development.I live my dream, believe that success is not a co-incidence and would love to share my experiences with you.