SHUTTER THE THOUGHT

“I’ve run boats in the past—many years ago,” he says. “I’m a machinist by trade. I have a good handle on working on things and fixing things—painting and machining—and, I know where to go for help.”

Renowned marine photographer Onne van der Wal has always been a sailor. His early sailing career, a good bit of it as a professional, took him literally around the world and then some. But like many who’ve lived their lives subject to the whims of the wind, he reached a moment where he thought he might like to step aboard, cast off the lines, turn a key and go, no matter the weather.

“One afternoon, we were heading into a southwesterly toward Newport,” says the Jamestown, R.I. resident. “I said, ‘I think I’m ready for something