http://www.boatinternational.com | April 2016OWNERS’ CLUB
Above: the Sunfish dinghy that
so terrified the young Robba.
Top right: his glove factory in Java.
Right: Robba with his son, Colby“all over the southeast US and even as far north
as Chicago, where we sailed dinghies in a wind
chill factor of 25 degrees below.”
After his second year, Robba became
commodore of the university sailing club, and
his course was set. “I met a German fellow who
had a 16 metre Sparkman & Stephens yawl that
was built by Abeking & Rasmussen. She had
a flush deck and was a very gorgeous boat.
I took a job as crew for the summer but, after
picking up the boat in the Bahamas and sailing
to New York through some bad weather, the
owner fired two French crew and told me I was
now the skipper.”
Two and a half years spent skippering the
yawl and another 18 metre sloop gave Robba
a wealth of experience, not only of sailing
and singlehanding but also how to look after
a boat. “I was in a lot of yards and saw a lot
of boats so I guess that’s where I developed
my understanding of what a proper yacht
should look like.”
It was at this point that Robba was faced
with a life choice – either to make a career
out of skippering or go back to college to
finish his education. “I chose to go back andfinish,” he says. He returned, not to mechanical
engineering but to a BSc in industrial
management with a minor in economics,
after which he took a job in Kansas while
completing an MBA in the evenings. “After five
years I knew I wanted to be back on the coast
and found a job in Massachusetts working
for Acushnet, parent to Titleist and Footjoy
and, as such, one of the world’s leading golf
companies. My role was quality assurance
manager for all purchase-for-resale items,
from apparel to golf carts and golf gloves.”
Travelling around 160 days a year meant
Robba became accustomed to life on the
road, and in particular to the Far East. “Any
new factory had to be approved by me,”
he says. “I guess I did well. After two years
I was made operations manager for golf gloves
worldwide.” Three years later the company
pulled out of factories in South Korea, leaving
them with empty order books. “I saw an
opportunity to step out and represent those
factories,” Robba explains. “We had started
sourcing product in Indonesia and that’s how I
began my own business in Indonesia in 1992. I
had an acquaintance who was friends with the76