Cornelis van Rietschoten is dead. The 87-year-old died as a result of a heart attack. He was the only skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race twice. The Dutchman had initially made a fortune with his family's electrical company before turning to new challenges. In the 1977/1978 Whitbread, he steered his legendary "Flyer" to victory on a calculated time. The 65-foot ketch from Sparkman & Stephens was unbeatable.
In 1981/1982, van Rietschoten returned once again and won his second team race around the world after a thrilling duel with the "Ceramco New Zealand". This third edition of the classic, which today sails into the future as the Volvo Ocean Race, marked the start of a new era of sailing. The ocean marathon was no longer a crazy innovation in which a few weirdos took part, but an institution. 29 yachts lined up at the starting line.
And the "Flying Dutchman" won for the second time. Conny van Rietschoten was the only Dutch skipper ever to win the race around the globe. He took the second victory with his new "Flyer II", a 76-foot sloop from the then up-and-coming design star Germán Frers. The starting signal for this race was given by van Rietschoten's wife Inge - sending her husband on another triumphant journey.
However, this second success was not a matter of course, as the 55-year-old skipper had already suffered a heart attack in the Southern Ocean during the race, but had forbidden his crew to ask the heart specialist on board the rival "Ceramco New Zealand" for help. "The New Zealanders were breathing down our necks," he said later. "If they had known that I had a health problem, they would have stepped on the gas even more."
"The fact that he won the race twice in a row was the result of his planning, his decisions and his leadership," said New Zealand circumnavigator Erle Williams, who was on "Flyer II" in 1981/1982. "It was wonderful to sail for Conny. He trusted his crew and encouraged us to push them hard. At the same time, he knew when to slow the crew down."
Team New Zealand's boss Grant Dalton, himself a Whitbread veteran and a former fellow van Rietschoten sailor, said of Conny van Rietschoten's death: "Almost all of us can trace our careers back to Conny. We were all young, restless, many of us without any experience to speak of. Nevertheless, Conny gave us a chance. He allowed us to be ourselves. Sometimes he guided us, at other times he pushed us hard. He taught us how things would work in the future. He introduced the professional approach to offshore sailing. He was a real pioneer."
Dalton continued: "With his death, we have lost a man we all regarded with respect and gratitude. His picture hangs next to Peter Blake's on my wall. It will always stay there. Goodbye, Conny. You are gone, but we will never forget you."
With Bouwe Bekking and his team Brunel, a Dutch skipper will once again be taking part in the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean Race, the successor to the Whitbread Volvo Ocean Race. The 50-year-old is looking forward to his seventh participation. Bekking said at his press conference: "We Dutch have this race in our blood." And was also referring to the pioneering achievement of his predecessor Cornelis van Rietschoten.
