Clicks of chance
When Onne van der Wal first signed onto the winning Flyer II programme for the 1981-82 Whitbread Round the World Race his titles were engineer and bowman. The photography thing – all those subse- quent iconic magazine covers, happy high-end clients and that colourful gallery in downtown Newport – was still just a hobby. But even a quick discussion with Onne reveals the personal initiative that turned all those camera clicks into such an impressive career. This Sailor with a Camera is a perfect
example of Seneca’s philosophy: luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
First click Onne was born in Holland but grew up in a small town near Cape Town. His interest in ocean racing was first sparked by the 1976-77 Whitbread fleet coming to town; 45 years later, over lunch on the sun- warmed back deck of his house, those blue eyes still light up with memories of watch- ing them finish. ‘When that race came into Cape Town I
said Oh. My. God. I thought, I’ve got to get some miles under my belt so I can get to that level and apply.’ First, though, he had to complete an
engineering certificate. ‘I served my time in a machine shop. I can actually fix some- thing, with my head in the bilge… I’m not a paper engineer from Northeastern Uni- versity in Boston!’ (Onne’s youngest is now working toward an engineering degree… at Northeastern.) In 1979 Onne was invited to race from
Cape Town to Uruguay. ‘I was the youngest guy on the boat… as well as a watch captain,’ he explains. He was also the most experienced of the 10-man delivery crew who sailed the same boat back to Cape Town, much too late in the season. Shaking his head, he mutters, ‘You
think you know a lot, but you don’t – until it blows 80.’ They broke a boom, forcing a stop in Tristan da Cunha, which triggers the first glimpse of a particular smile that could almost be called a leer. ‘The girls are very hungry there,’ he remembers, before
46 SEAHORSE
reverting to autumn gales in the Southern Ocean. ‘Long story short, we survived.’
Risk, reward In exchange for that Southern Ocean delivery the owner sent him an airline ticket to England for the northern summer racing season. Once he arrived in Cowes, though, Onne realised the ride he’d lined up was ‘a pig of a boat’. At the pub that night he met an old friend who made him a better offer: joining the crew on Sleuth, Steve and Doris Colgate’s state-of-the-art raceboat: ‘flush deck, grinders, aluminium hull’. They won their class in the stormy 1979 Fastnet Race… and Onne clicked the shutter on his next opportunity. Meanwhile, the Colgates would go on to found their now legendary Offshore Sailing School – and also produce some of the best-known books on the sport. ‘At the end of the series Steve and Doris came to me and said, “We’ve loved having
you on the boat. Why don’t you come to the States as our first mate?” So I did the SORC, which in those days was massive; a full month of ocean racing. I was in heaven and loved the whole American scene.’ Following the SORC another buddy
who was running a 73ft S&S design invited Onne to sign on as mate for a summer of cruising and racing in New England. ‘I said, “I’ve seen the States.” He said, “What you have seen is Florida – the back end of the United States. We’re going to New Eng- land and, believe me, you will like it.”’ So Onne bid farewell to Steve and Doris and sailed into Newport for the very first time.
Dinner with Conny Meanwhile, ocean racing’s coconut telegraph buzzed with news: Whitbread- winning skipper Cornelis ‘Conny’ van Rietschoten was building a new boat for the next race. Realising he now had ‘some good
PHOTOS ONNE VAN DER WAL/FLYER
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