Shipwrecked At Sea – a dream come true
Petr Muzik is an extraordinary man. Not only is he my father, but he has just returned from fulfilling his life long dream – to sail around the world on his yacht, ‘Shoestring’.
For many years, my dad had a goal of sailing around the world. He built three yachts in our back yard as I was growing up. His last yacht, ‘Shoestring 3’, took him 15 years to build, between raising a family and running a business.
Some people thought Petr would never set sail, but in 2005, my dad set to sea for what would become a three year epic journey that changed his life forever.
Tragedy struck one month out to sea when Roy, my step brother, was killed in a motorcycle accident and my dad had to turn around and sail one month back to Cape Town for the funeral. However, by the time he arrived in Cape Town, he had to postpone his trip for another year, waiting for the trade winds to blow again.
Having sold his house and car to go sailing around the globe, my Dad and his partner May, lived aboard Shoestring in Cape Town harbor until the trade winds returned one year later.
Undeterred, they left Cape Town for South America, traveled through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean and on to New Zealand and Indonesia. From there, he crossed the Indian Ocean where his boat was shipwrecked in a coral atoll called Cocos Keeling.
In the middle of the night, anchored in a small bay in paradise, the wind changed and threw Shoestring onto a coral reef. Water flooded the boat and Shoestring began to sink. Miraculously, there was a boat anchored nearby who had a generator and a pump (Shoestring’s pumps could not cope with the rate of water coming in) and came to the rescue. During the shipwreck, the rudder had broken off and the propeller was so damaged that Petr had to cut it off with a hacksaw. Things were not looking good. Shoestring had sustained intense damage and was now left with a hole in the side of the boat, no propeller, no rudder and a bent keel!
Again undeterred, my dad pulled the boat into shallow water and waited for the tide to go out. He then had a 6 hour window in which to repair the holes in the hull. Amazingly, with the help of some fellow yachtsmen, they slowed the leaking down to a manageable level. Now, all they needed was a rudder and they could limp home across the Indian Ocean.
Miraculously, one of my Dad’s crew found an old catamaran rudder lying in a bush on the coral atoll!!! What are the chances? It was as if god had reached down and placed the rudder there just for ShoestringDad attached the rudder to Shoestring and sailed for 30 days across the Indian Ocean, finally completing his amazing trip in December 2007. The sailing community put him on the cover of Sailing Magazine, acknowledging his accomplishment.
The moral of this story in the words of my father: “If you have a dream, just do it!”
Watch this fascinating video interview with my dad and hear the story from the horse’s mouth with photographs too.
P.S. Please leave your comments below…
Tagged with: video
awe inspiring journey and brilliant reminder of what one can achieve when you put your mind to it. having used designer life last year, my wife and our 4 dogs completed the move from cape town to living in zurich in november 2007. stories such as Petr’s only begs the question of what else we are going to achieve. thank you, gentlemen.
Yes, it is an inspiring story. Well done on your trip to Zurich. My sister lives there. If you want to conect with her, drop me a line. Bruce
Thanks for the note. Would be good to connect with your sister so her email address would be appreciated. You can also give her my email which is tanya.russell@bluewin.ch By the way, do you ever run programs in Zurich? Would be good to attend one of your amazing seminars as my wife raved about it. Take care. Russell
Loved watching the vid (although it didn’t link from your site). I have not heard anyone talk about Chagos in years! I spend about a week and a half there with a small flotilla of yachts. I was sailing with my Mum & Dad on our 40ft yacht Yaraandoo II. An absolutely incredible place. You can spend the day hunting and gathering for the evening pot luck on the beach… we even used to get buzzed by the recon jets from Diego Garcia… they would fly in low (sometimes at mast height) then, when they were right upon us, they would spin vertical, hit the burners and go supersonic, sending a pealing boom across the magical and otherwise pristine atoll to roaring cheers from the group of yachties! Love it!
Wow,
pretty cool. Actually, an extraordinary story of an amazing person. Your dad shows the power of a dream and resiliency. Well I wish I remembered at every moment the time is now and the place is here to live my dreams. This definitely helps remembering.
Thank you for sharing that my friend!
Jan
P.S. For some reason, over the years I have known you, I had no idea that your dad was from former Czechoslovakia. Then seeing his name printed in the blog stroke home and I knew he must be Czech, which the video confirmed. Well, life is full of surprises.
Dear Petr,
Johnny & Juliet Kipps gave me your link and June & I have just watched it together. I remember very well our sailing off the Cape coast on your Hobie 14 Turbo back in early 80s and our small donations to Shoestring I maybe II. It is lovely to see your dreams fulfilled. We have a dream of living and cruising in some warm, safe waters in the not too distant future. You have inspired us to get on with it! We would love to hear from you. Martin
Well done Peter.
I remember you and “shoe string” in your garden in Cape Town when I started delivering yachts .
I am still sailing and have done over 250000 miles .Looking at the video and you full filling your dream must be an inspiration to all the dreamers .
What has been amazing for me is how easy it is to follow your sailing dream. Remember that the first step is always the most difficult .It really gets easier
To all the dreamers ; in all the miles I’ve sailed, I’ve only experienced a total of 7days of BIG winds and terrifying seas (75 knts) But Ive enjoyed 1500 days of amazing beauty and happiness.
GO ON AND DO IT . you will be amazed at how easy the second and third and fourth steps become
WELL done Peter
PS Im the guy that sold the genoa to you in Cape Town
We lived opposite Peter, Katja, Christian and Tanya 42 years ago on Dean road, our daughter Jenny was over at their house every day or vice versa…and are also sailors. At the moment Rolf is sailing back from Kauai to Victoria Canada where we live, on Esperanto, a 42 foot custom boat. Please congratulate Peter.. what he said is true.. we are living our dream too.. and tell him, if he ever comes to Victoria Canada, look us up. It is a sailing paradise.