Tall Ship Journey - 3. TSJ Chapter 3

“Zac has spoken to his father, and he has an idea, that he is going to discuss with Jordan’s family up on the station,” Beatrice informed my Mum. “Well, you are both welcome to stay here in the meantime. Zac, show them to the guest bedrooms, and I will go in search of toiletry supplies for both of you and if need be, we will go to the shops to get some clothes,” Mum announced.

Two hours later, we arrived back home, with Beatrice and Jackson having new clothes and supplies to last them until they got back to the yacht, while Mum and Beatrice got to work to wash all of the new clothes, Jackson and I went for a swim in the pool, as I loaned Jackson some swim shorts to wear.

After a short swim, we headed indoors, since my sunburn was quite bad, and Mum applied more lotion to the burnt areas, to assist with the healing process. As we finished lunch, I received a text message. “Turn on the TV to WIN or GWN news. Dad,” the message read, as I quickly stood up and headed to the nearest television.

“Message from Dad, to turn on the Television News,” I announced and everyone stood and headed over to the lounge and took a seat. “Now the special bulletin we mentioned earlier, with Georgina, our local sports reporter…” the newsreader announced, and suddenly a lady and Dad were on the screen, with a picture of the Stingray in the background.

“Thank you, I have with me, a local commercial radio host and producer, Mr Julian Hynes, who this morning made a very unusual on-air announcement a short while ago. Julian, would you mind informing those watching us now, what your recent radio announcement was about?” the lady announced.

“Certainly Georgina, and thank you for allowing me to be on your programme today. Some time back, while preparing to do a radio segment up in Kalbarri, my son and I discovered a family friend’s stolen catamaran yacht berthed at the local jetty, and my son – Zac immediately contacted the yacht’s owner – Jordan who is the youngest son of a Pilbara Pastoralist, and a sailing crewmate of Zac’s onboard the Sail Training Ship Leeuwin.

After confirming that it was indeed the missing yacht, we contacted the local police and they inspected the yacht and allowed Zac to have a look around too since he had already been onboard before it was stolen. Later while the yacht was under police watch, a young police constable was injured and the three thieves sailed out of Kalbarri, with a failing light due to it being just after sunset.

Zac did try to swim out and stop the yacht from leaving, but he was unable to reach the yacht in time, he did however get to see and hear the three responsible for stealing the yacht. After checking on the police officer, we packed up and started to follow the yacht down the coast, calling in at several locations to see if we could spot the yacht, which we eventually did. Unfortunately, later that night we were informed that the yacht had struck a shallow reef, not far off the coast and the three culprits had swum ashore and fled.

They were later located and charged, with assault of a police officer and stealing a sailing yacht from its original base in the Pilbara and again at Kalbarri, which resulted in its destruction on the reefs. As a result of an agreement with the yacht owner and the wealthy parents of two of the culprits, Jordan was handed over ownership of a new catamaran yacht in Auckland, New Zealand, as a replacement yacht for the one that was destroyed and as it happens it is where our family was holidaying that Christmas.

We inspected the yacht for Jordan, and the temporary crew took us out on a short sail, to make sure that all was ok with the yacht before Jordan accepted the offer, and became the official owner of the Catamaran Yacht known as Stingray. After Zac had completed his training course in and around Auckland, Jordan made a surprise arrival to check out the yacht and arrange a crew to help him sail it back to Western Australia, instead of having it shipped back over. Zac joined them as far as Port Lincoln before he had to fly home in time for the new school year.

The reason that I am on your programme today, is that the three responsible for stealing the original yacht a few years ago are now responsible for stealing the second catamaran yacht, as well as kidnapping the yacht owner and the skipper. We have received a demand for $12 million as compensation for the yacht – Stingray, which was given to our friend – Jordan, as compensation for the loss of his first yacht, and we were told not to involve the police or we would not see our friends or the yacht ever again.

They did not say anything about going public via media, so that is why I am here today,” Julian announced. “Well, that is an incredible story, how can we help you with getting your friends and the yacht Stingray back?” the news reporter asked.

“Well, all I ask, is for the general public to keep an eye out for the yacht Stingray, as you can see from the picture behind me, she is a 46-metre long and 12-metre-wide Catamaran yacht, and she could be anywhere now, even though it has only been half a day since the hijacking took place,” Julian replied.

Moments after exiting the television studio in Geraldton, Dad was on the telephone with us at home, using his mobile phone, which only the family and a few friends have the number for safety reasons. “What did you think of the interview?” Dad asked us as I put the phone on speaker, so the rest of the family could hear the conversation. “It was good dear, I hope that it gets results,” Mum responded, just as we heard a second phone ring, which we guessed to be Dad’s work mobile.

“Just a moment family, this may be about the Television interview,” Dad said to us before answering the second phone, and he did not hang up so we listened in to the call. “Hello, this is Julian speaking”, we heard Dad say, “Hello Mr Hynes, this is Detective Jack Lennon, of the Mid-West District of the WA Police, I would like to ask you a few questions about why you have gone public in regards to a kidnapping and stealing of a catamaran yacht and it’s the crew?” we heard another voice say.

“That would be because we were told not to inform the police or we would not see our good friend and his skipper and the yacht ever again if I did,” Dad responded, “Well, failing to report a crime can also put you in a lot of trouble,” the detective replied. “Look, I am not going to put our friend or his crewman in any more danger, by cooperating with you lot, goodbye,” we heard Dad say. There was a few moments of silence before Dad returned to his mobile.

“I guess, you all heard that conversation, so I am guessing that it would be best if we keep away from the police for now, so round up the family plus Jackson and Beatrice and pack a bag each, and be ready to go, as we are going on a road trip,” Dad announced to us. “Where exactly are we going dear,” Mum asked, “I will let you know when I get there, bye for now,” Dad said before the call ended. Moments later, I received a text message from Dad.

“Zac, tell mum to grab the spare keys for the vehicle, I forgot that I had parked my vehicle at the Visitor Centre on Church Street, as I had travelled up to Gero with a colleague in his car. Drive north to Walkaway, I will meet you at the general store there,” Dad messaged us. Quickly as we could, Mum, my younger brother Alistair and I packed a bag each, and after emptying the fridge of perishables, and putting the wheelie bin out, we locked up the house, where our neighbour offered to drive us the 2.5 kilometres into town to the Visitor Centre.

Once on the road, heading up the Brand Highway as far as the village of Greenough, we turned right onto Hammersley Road and then Evans Road, till we arrived at the Walkaway General Store, where we found Dad waiting for us. Staying off the main highway, we took the back roads to Moonyoonooka, which is the road junction of the Geraldton-Mount Magnet Road.

Continuing north on the back roads, we passed through Nabawa in the Chapman Valley and eventually arrived in Northampton in the later afternoon after travelling 125 kilometres from home mostly on minor roads. After a short break and a meal, we headed west onto Port Gregory Road, which is closer to the coast, and away from the usual police highway patrols, and we arrived in the small coastal town of Gregory well after dark where we checked into a family cabin for the family and a twin cabin for the crew, at the caravan park.

After nearly three hours of travelling, we were all fairly tired from our very sudden road trip, where Dad said we would be staying out of sight for a while until the matter was resolved, and that our friends were home and safe. Shortly after having a shower, my mobile began to ring, which made me jump, and the caller ID was a private number and I believed that it was the hijackers who were calling.

On seeing the caller ID, Dad quickly retrieved his phone and hit the button on the voice recorder app, before I answered the call. “Hello… Jordan, are you ok?” I asked. “He is fine, and so is your friend's skipper. Now why did you go and do a silly thing like getting the media involved?” the kidnapper angrily said to me. “You said no cops, so my Dad decided that getting the general public involved was the next best option,” I replied.

“Your Dad thinks he is very clever, does not he… well for doing that there is a price. Write down these coordinates… You will find your friend Jordan at this location, the hijacker responded.