Tall Ship Adventures - 11. TSA Chapter 11

After thanking the Ranger for his assistance today, we climbed into our vehicle and Dad began driving us towards Northampton, to find out what was going to happen to the culprits.

While on the way there, I made the phone call to Jordan, to tell him the bad news of what happened to his yacht, and that it was now destroyed, with most pieces recovered with the assistance of three fishing boats. Jordan thanked us for what we had done to try and recover the yacht, and he ended the call soon after, I now felt so bad that I had not been able to do more to recover the yacht in one piece.

After a short visit to Northampton, where I officially identified the three that I saw on the yacht as the same as the three that had been detained, Dad and I continued on south towards home, with me feeling terrible at not being able to do better to try and stop the yacht from sailing out of Kalbarri and ending up been wrecked on a reef to the south.

I spoke to Jordan two times by phone before our family set off on our Christmas adventure over to New Zealand, and both times Jordan tried to ensure me that the yacht and its contents were fully insured and that as long as nobody was hurt, everything else could be replaced. After a long and tiring flight, we finally arrived in Auckland, and we settled into our hotel, located on the north side of the harbour, with views of the main city across the harbour, where we would be spending our Christmas Day the following day.

On Boxing Day, I would be joining the sailing ship for another tall ship adventure, which is located next to the Maritime Museum at Princes Wharf. We learnt that the hotel was providing a Christmas feast for its guests for Christmas lunch, which we were all looking forward to, and having already opened up our Christmas presents early, before leaving home, when it came to Christmas morning, we were a little surprised that we had small presents waiting for us when we woke up.

I was given a heavy-duty waterproof diving watch, with all the required special gadgets, and Alistair received his first laptop computer, with a heap of games already loaded onto it. After lunch, we went for a long walk around the city parks, before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the Christmas feast.

“Sir, there is a phone call for Master Zac Hynes from Mr Jordan Sanderson in Western Australia”, the front desk receptionist informed us as we approached the main desk. “I will take it thank you,” I responded, and the receptionist pointed to a telephone over in the corner, where there was a small deck and a comfortable chair.

“Hello Jordan… Merry Christmas, and what on earth are you doing calling us this distance,” I said as I picked up the telephone, and Jordan chuckled at this. “Merry Christmas to you too, my friend. I have some awesome news and I can’t wait until you get back from your New Zealand adventure,” Jordan replied.

“Well, that has grabbed my attention, what is the news that is so urgent?” I asked in response, “Well, apparently the father of the two boys responsible for the wrecking of my yacht, is a very wealthy businessman from Switzerland, and during the court appearance of the three brats… I mean three people responsible, the father asked for leniency and promised to make full restitution for the destruction of the yacht and stress…

Anyway, the magistrate agreed to the arrangement, and for compensation, instead of cash, and as suggested the Swiss businessman will be handing over ownership of his brand new 46-metre or 150-foot Sunreef sailing catamaran, which is currently located there, at Bayswater Marina in Auckland,” Jordan announced.

“Wow, that sounds like a huge yacht, and fifty feet longer than your last yacht, that is massive, do you know anything more about it?” I asked, “Yeah, she is named Stingray, and she has three decks, with two VIP cabins on the main deck, plus three double and one twin guest cabins on the lower deck – starboard, and two officers cabins, plus three twin crew cabins, crew mess and galley on the lower deck portside,” Jordan replied.

“That’s like huge, you will need a huge crew to run the yacht for you, so how is it going to be brought over to Western Australia?” I asked, “The Swiss businessman said he would have his shipped over on a cargo ship as soon as possible to arrange. I was wondering if you could go and check it out for me, and maybe inspect it and take lots of photos for me please,” Jordan asked.

“Sure buddy, I would be happy to do that,” I said as I smiled at the thought of checking out this massive yacht that would soon be in Western Australia. Jordan told me that the Bayswater Yacht Club is on the north side of the harbour. Jordan had said that he had already arranged for me to have full access to the yacht for inspection, on behalf of the new owner.

Back in our hotel room, I informed my parents and brother about the interesting phone call from Jordan. Dad suggested that after lunch we all go down to the yacht club to check out this new catamaran, and I agreed to this as we started to get ready for our Christmas feast, he informed me that the hotel we were in was located in the suburb of Bayswater, which caught me totally by surprise.

After lunch with all of us having eaten way too much food, we decided to have a rest first, before heading down to the yacht club, and it was later in the afternoon, when the taxi drove us the very short distance to the yacht club, and we were pleased to see someone was there to let us in to retrieve the keys to get on board the yacht.

As we arrived at the jetty that would take us to the yacht, I could already see the tall mast of Jordan’s new yacht, and I was happy that he had been more than compensated for losing his first yacht. When rounded the corner and came into full view of the catamaran, I stopped.

“Wow! That is some yacht,” Dad commented, and all I could do was nod my head in agreement, as we all stood there staring at the yacht. “Sorry to rush you, but I do have other things to do today,” the yacht club staff member said to us, bringing us out of our daze.

“Oops, sorry about that, we are just a bit stunned at the size of her that is all, please go and do what you need to do, we will be fine from here, and Merry Christmas,” I responded, and the staff member returned to where we were standing, and handed over the keys, before heading back to the yacht club.

As we arrived at the yacht, we stood there for a few moments, amazed at how beautiful the catamaran was, before I pressed the button on the remote to disarm the yacht’s alarm system, before taking the first step onto the aft pontoon, and climbing the steps up to the main deck, with the family following close behind.

“Wow! Your friend Joran is one lucky son of a… well you know what I mean,” my brother said, which made me chuckle, “Yep, he sure is,” I replied, as I retrieved my phone and dialled a familiar number and hit the video call button.

“Christmas greetings again from Western Australia,” Jordan said as he answered the call, “Greetings from onboard the catamaran yacht Stingray, we have just this moment stepped onboard,” I replied, as I moved my phone around so Jordan could see what the yacht looks like.

“Looks even better than what I have seen online, how about your family taking her out for a short sail, so I can see what see looks like sailing,” Jordan said to me, “Err, that would be good if I had some experienced crew and not just the family,” I replied, and Jordan laughed.

“Look over to the jetty and you will have your answer,” Jordan said, which I did, where I saw the same young man who showed us to the yacht, plus a young lady standing on the jetty, and they looked like they were ready for a sailing trip. Are you here to be crew?” I asked the two standing on the jetty at the aft of the yacht.

“Yes, skipper, ready when you are,” the young man said in reply. “Err, well firstly I am not a qualified skipper, only a deckhand, and I have very limited experience on luxury yachts like this one, mostly on tall ships, but please, come on board,” I replied.

“That is fine Mr Hynes, I am a qualified Coxswain, and Mr Sanderson has authorised me to be skipper for this afternoon’s short sail. My name is Carter Hunt, and this is my sister Beatrice, who is an experienced deckhand and yacht steward,” the young man replied, and this was when I noticed that both of them were holding cooler bags in their hands, no doubt with refreshment supplies.

“Mr Sanderson has set up an account with the yacht club, to have refreshments for this sailing trip,” Beatrice explained, as she headed inside. “Would you like to just sail within the harbour, or would you like to go out to sea a little bit?” Carter asked me. “I will be doing plenty of sea sailing shortly onboard the Spirit of New Zealand, so how about we just stay within the harbour, so my parents and brother don’t get too seasick,” I replied smiling.

“Very good, inner harbour it shall be then,” Carter replied, as he headed up to the fly deck, and I followed him up. “Awesome setup, I can hardly wait till Jordan and I take her out in our home state on the West Coast,” I commented, as I glanced at control panels and around the flybridge. Yes, I sailed a similar yacht a few months back, they are a dream to sail,” Carter replied. “Are we ready? I will go down and release the ropes so we can get on our way,” I commented.