He quit his corporate job and moved to Mexico to pursue his dream of sailing solo across the ocean. Australian Timothy Shaddock, 54, bought his 30-foot catamaran two years ago in the Mexican Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta. He needed a place to live and he liked the isolation. "Of course, living on a boat and sailing on a boat is two different things and that was more of a challenge," Shaddock told the AP on Wednesday after stepping onto land for the first time in months. As his training ground, Shaddock chose the Sea of Cortez, a narrow finger of water between the Baja California Peninsula and the Mexican mainland. "I was aware and the only preparation that you can really do is ... test the boat at sea," Shaddock says. He'd take short journeys, noting what was working on the boat and what wasn't, but was conscious that, in late April, hurricane season was coming.
"It was either now or I could not really wait one more year," he says. He sailed out of the Sea of Cortez and into the Pacific under a full moon. He thinks it was early May, though the dates are vague in his memory. "The boat was moving fast," he recalls. "It was a clear night. The winds were strong. ... It was so easy to make the decision. I wanted to keep sailing." Shaddock and his dog Bella (a stray he had adopted in Mexico) were a few weeks into their journey when a storm changed everything in an instant. "The current changes direction. So if you're drifting you're suddenly drifting in a circle. And the wind, it's changing all the time," Shaddock says. He lost his sail, some electronics, and his ability to cook food.
Shaddock says he still had the capacity to issue a mayday call, but he opted not to do so. ("It might have been my pride," he has said, per Yahoo News.) Days soon became a battle against fatigue: fixing things on the boat, fishing, capturing rainwater. Shaddock found comfort in meditation, swimming in the ocean, and journaling. Keeping Bella fed and content gave him added purpose. The two subsisted on raw fish and rainwater. Shaddock thought he probably would die at sea until he heard a helicopter on July 12. Its pilot, Andrés Zamorano, had taken off from the fishing boat María Delia in search of schools of tuna. They were 1,200 miles from land. Zamorano, who has since become a friend, believes a moral obligation Shaddock felt to keep Bella alive helped them both survive.
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Aboard the María Delia, Shaddock and Bella were showered with attention and first aid. Crew members spoiled Bella and treated the blisters on her paws. "He would come up to the bridge every day whenever he wanted and we would drink coffee, talk," says boat captain Oscar Meza. Two days after the rescue, the boat found a huge school of tuna, allowing it to fill its hold and turn for home. "The best moment was being with the dolphins when they catch all the tuna," Shaddock says. "You hear their sounds, you see them move and you feel their magic. That is the magic of freedom and it is the truth of why we are alive." Stepping onto land for the first time in months was both welcome and a bit uncomfortable for someone who had grown accustomed to being alone. For now, Shaddock plans to return to Australia to see his parents, sister, and daughter.
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