Fair Winds — Jack Van Ommen

We’re sorry to note the passing of Jack Van Ommen, 1937–2026, one of the most unique and inspirational characters we’ve ever run into in the world of sailing. Surrounded by family, Jack passed away on June 8 in Virginia. He was 89.

Jacob Van Ommen was born in Amsterdam in 1937. He immigrated to the United States at age 19, did a stint in the Army (including a non-combat role in Vietnam), and spent most of the next four decades as a West Coast lumber broker. When the business went bankrupt in 2000 (an event Jack later called “one of the best things that ever happened to me”) he sold everything except Fleetwood, his Naja 30 and — to the consternation of family and friends — announced at age 68 that he was going sailing.

His first little jaunt was in 2005, when he sailed 3,000 miles from Santa Barbara to the Marquesas, solo. Since then, living on little more than his $1,450/month Social Security payments, he visited more than 60 countries — with a few misadventures along the way.

He lost Fleetwood in 2013 after going aground in Ibiza. Aboard a sistership, Fleetwood II, he completed a solo circumnavigation in April 2017 — at age 80. Three months later, he hit one of the barrier islands off Virginia. Jack got the boat off and repaired her. In 2022, the boat hit a reef off Cuba and was gone for good.

“Three marriages, two shipwrecks and one ‘wrecked ship’ better remain my limits,” Jack noted in a Changes in Latitudes article in our April 2025 issue (one of several pieces he wrote for us over the years). Unable to find another Naja, and after an unfortunate encounter with the dishonest seller of Fleetwood III that cost three years of boat work and legal proceedings (he ended up selling that boat), he was back aboard Fleetwood IV, a mid-’80s Elan 31, his first-ever fiberglass boat. “I am very pleased with the choice I made,” he said at the time, marveling at such luxuries as a mechanical anchor windlass, roller furling and refrigeration.

Jack was always looking forward to new adventures. The last time we heard from him, he was seriously thinking about taking a crack at becoming the oldest solo circumnavigator, hoping to better the late Harry Heckel, who completed a westabout circuit at age 89.

It hurts our hearts to know that won’t happen. But we take solace in imagining Jack will always be out there somewhere, reeling off the miles, that big smile spreading across his face as the next landfall peeks above the horizon.

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Jack wrote a book about his circumnavigation. Soloman, published in 2015, is available at www.SoloMan.us. He also kept a running journal/logbook of his life ashore and afloat at www.cometosea.us. Our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.