"As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls?" These are the words that begin Michael Wnuk's latest blog entry, which he published on his website on 2 October. sy-marlin.de published. In it, he bid farewell to friends and companions in the face of a new outbreak of a long-standing cancer that he did not want to fight again. Ten days later, last Monday, he died. His family, who had travelled from Germany, and local sailing friends accompanied him during his last days and hours.
Michael Wnuk, together with his wife Nathalie Müller, is a household name to many thousands of sailors, and not just Germans. With their "Iron Lady", a twelve-tonne steel ship, they set off on an extended sailing trip around the world along the Barefoot Route for seven years from the year 2000. Their two daughters were also born during this time. The book about their sailing adventures, "Sea as a Dream", becomes a bestseller.
After their return, the family initially stayed ashore for four years before setting sail again in 2011 - the four of them and in much more challenging waters. The "Iron Lady" heads south along the east coast of South America. The crew will spend several months cruising through the canals and fjords of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Wnuk and Müller regularly report on this journey, with its often spectacular experiences and impressive encounters, in their own Blog on YACHT online.
When the west coast of Chile is reached, a turning point is reached. Because a good opportunity unexpectedly presented itself, the family parted with their old boat at the beginning of 2013, only to buy another, larger one shortly afterwards: the "Marlin". At the time, it was at the other end of South America, in Suriname. The four of them took over their new home there and set off on further voyages, this time to the Caribbean and finally back across the North Atlantic to Flensburg, their new adopted home.
Her second book about this trip, "Unter Segeln zu Hause" (At home under sail), is published soon afterwards.
While his wife and daughters quickly settle into life on land, Michael Wnuk's longing for the sea remains ever-present. The trained advertising specialist from Moers in the Rhineland also dedicates himself professionally to his dream of sailing: With his company Lunatronic he has become a recognised expert for communication electronics on board blue water yachts, particularly in the long-distance cruising scene.
In order to be able to go to sea regularly again, he also refitted the "Marlin" in the following years and offered berth charter trips. These took him and his sailing guests around the North Sea, among other places, and later south again and across the Atlantic back to the Caribbean. Wnuk feels he has arrived at the destination of his sailing dreams, especially in the waters off the coast of Cuba.
But then, in July 2016, he was diagnosed with acute leukaemia. But he doesn't think about giving up. Wnuk battled the disease with tremendous effort and actually managed to be back on board his "Marlin" months later. He believes he is healthy in 2017, but the cancer is not defeated; it breaks out again at the end of 2019. Stem cell transplants and chemotherapy followed, and Michael Wnuk actually made it this time too; he got back on his feet.
But then the coronavirus pandemic breaks out and all of the skipper's attempts to get back on his ship fail at first. In the previous months, the "Marlin" had travelled with hired skippers on other berth charter trips in the Caribbean and was now waiting for its owner. He has to be patient until August, when he finally gets a flight.
Michael Wnuk was not on board for a year. He spent his last months sailing and kiting off the coast of Curaçao. At the end of September, he is again diagnosed with cancer. This time, the disease doesn't give him a chance.
Michael Wnuk takes his blog readers with him on his journey until almost the very end. And he does it the way he always did: openly, straightforwardly, directly. That was his way. That had character.
He says goodbye with the words:
"Now it is over. (...) Blessed are those who do not forget me. Because I will only be dead when no one thinks of me anymore. The most beautiful last moment will be when I close my eyes and a smile spreads across my face."
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
