Onne and Conny

Intressant film om Onne van der Wal, Conny van Rietchoten och hur det gick till när man seglade Whitbread. Conny dog alldeles nyss och Onne har ju blivit en av världens mest eftertraktade marinfotografer. Som så ofta så var det tillfälligheter som ledde honom in på den banan.

This short video was originally created by Sam Greenfield as a written interview for Sailing World magazines website. The owner of Flyer, Conny van Rietchoten had just died and Sam wanted to hear my story having raced around the world with him. After the interview, which Sam recorded, he decided to use it as a podcast as he liked the original audio track he had made of my tales.

We then decided that adding some of the original Kodachrome slides I had made during our circumnavigation in the 1982-82 Whitbread Round the World Race would add something to it. I also sent Sam a few letters and Flyer communications that Conny had sent me prior to joint the boat in Holland in February 1981. I spent 14 months on the boat from the early days in the boatyard then doing the whole race and helping put the boat away after the race. It was a successful year for all of us. We won the race! There are many crew members who sailed with Conny who can thank him for where they are today, me bing one of them. So here’s to Conny! An amazing man, leader and mentor.

There are a few sections of the video that don’t have any images, only audio so you will see a black screen. Don’t hang up, keep listening! The audio is the original Skype interview so the audio quality ain’t so great. Thanks! Onne.