Jack of All Trades. Lessons for Life

An afternoon with Jack Walsh in his Strand apartment is a lot like going to the movies. Love, loss, diamonds and the deep blue sea. His life story unfolds in cinematic splendour with one remarkable scene surmounting the next.

It is therefore no surprise to find him in an apartment overlooking False Bay, the scene of so many of his early adventures, and where he now lives.

Walsh has an impish grin and small nuggety physique that make him look a decade younger than his 79 years. Add to that an affable manner and lively temperament and it is easy to see why he has enjoyed such a rollicking ride across the South African landscape, and seascape, since his boyhood on a farm between Stellenbosch and Somerset West. By his own admission his stories these days may ramble more than they used to. But he has lost none of the passion that has earned him a reputation as a fishing industry pioneer.

He insists on sharing a plate of sumptuous snacks while I quiz him about his life, but he himself is too engrossed in the telling to eat. His mind is quickly caught up in a rip current of anecdote and recollection. After one hour we are still talking about his days as an insurance broker, working in his father’s firm in Somerset West. After two hours I understand why office life was never going to suffice for Jack Walsh.