My son Xavir Kruk, who has died aged 49, was a craftsman and sailor whose modest achievements were all the greater for his cystic fibrosis, which he faced with fortitude and humour. From a childhood love of windsurfing, Xavi quickly progressed to sailing cruisers and tall ships. Over a period of 14 years he sailed more than 2,000 miles on the sail training ships Lord Nelson and Tenacious. In 2014 he started building a 16ft clinker sailing vessel by himself, after a trip to Roskilde in Denmark to see Viking boats.
Xavi was born in Portsmouth to me, Sue (nee Lamb), a research social worker, and my husband, Zyg Kruk, a neuropharmacologist. When Xavi was three, Zyg got a job at the London Hospital Medical College (now incorporated into Barts), and we moved to Crouch End, north London. Xavi went to Coleridge primary and Fortismere secondary schools, but his dyslexia went undiagnosed and so his schooling was not a great success.
However, he and his older brother, Ziggy, both enjoyed sport and were keen windsurfers, so in 1984 we moved to Hayling Island, on the south coast, for them to pursue their passion.
There, and through long camping holidays in Cornwall and Europe, and weekends visiting his grandmother in Fairford, Gloucestershire, and friends in Portsmouth, Xavi developed a love of sailing.
In 1986 he became a trainee at Combes Boatyard, Bosham, West Sussex, specialising in the restoration of classic wooden boats. Following the two-year training, he was employed by the boatyard for a year, and helped to restore Hilfranor, a Dunkirk “little ship”. He then went to Highbury College in Portsmouth to study cabinet-making for three years, along with woodworking courses at West Dean College. When Ziggy died in 2001, also of cystic fibrosis, Xavi made a memorial bench for him, which is sited at Hayling Island Sailing Club.
Throughout all this he underwent relentless daily treatment: physiotherapy at least twice a day; special diets; multiple medications including intravenous and nebulised antibiotics; and exercise. In the past few years this regime took several hours a day and involved frequent hospitalisation. He faced all this with courage and good will, even when his quality of life was dwindling.
Last year he was given Orkambi, a treatment for cystic fibrosis that is deemed too expensive for use by the NHS except on compassionate grounds. This gave him some respite and more energy. It was too little, and too late, to protect him from a series of injuries and their complications.
He is survived by Zyg and me.
