Ian MacRobert heads up sales and, amongst his many other roles at Sparcraft Masts, is your customer relations guy. He has 22 years of experience in the mast manufacturing industry. His career in mast building began at Sparcraft in 2001, setting up and running the Quality Assurance Programme that is still in place today.
Ian is an accredited sailor that has sailed many ocean miles locally and abroad. He is still an active sailor in the Extra dinghy class and is involved in a Mumm 36 programme at Royal Cape Yacht Club.
With 22 years of tenure, Ian’s role spans design, operations, project management, and business development. He acts as the main point of contact for customers, understanding their needs and translating them into the design and production processes. He has gained extensive knowledge working alongside industry legends and played a pivotal role in growing the business and introducing carbon mast production. With specialised experience and valuable intellectual property, he is recognized as a rising talent in the field of spars and mast manufacture, with significant potential for future contributions.
Ian grew up sailing, initially on dinghies and them moving onto big keelboats, where he first became interested in the world of spars and rigging. He was recruited to join Sparcraft Masts after he finished school, where he started working on the factory floor, getting a thorough understanding of mast and spars manufacturing. That was in 2001. Ian learnt the industry through some of South Africa’s mast building legends. Over the years, Ian’s roles developed from the factory floor to production support, then to quality assurance, and then onto managing the quotes and costings and then project management.
As a passionate sailor, Ian has a deep understanding of spars and rigging and their design and function, which is critical in his role and his extensive liaison with the customers in the design and production of a rig package. Ian has sailed extensively since leaving school. In addition to local keelboat racing, Ian has completed two Antigua Week Regattas, with as well as a Cowes Week and a Cape to Salvador South Atlantic Yacht Race. He also has many shorter local distance races like Cape Town to Walvis Bay under his belt, has been part of the winning Lipton Cup Team, has received provincial colours for sailing and has competed in the Hobie Tiger and Fireball Worlds. He enjoys sailing keelboats and dinghies alike.
In 2023, Ian won the South Africa Boat Builders Export Council prestigious Rising Talent industry award for Rigging and Sales. Read more here.