Fordell - 11. Ford Ch 11

Without mentioning the email, I failed to convince them to stay on, even with an increase of pay and responsibilities, so I thanked them for meeting with me and wished them all the best of success for the future. After they had left, no doubt to finish their packing, I sat back down and thought about this situation a bit.

“Hunter, can you check to see if any of my belongings are still in my suite, while I speak to the Captain alone,” I asked, and Hunter headed off upstairs. “Captain, did you manage to recover my Wave Runner from the river?” I asked, “Yes sir, it has been serviced and returned to its usual location,” the captain replied.

“Good, now one last thing before we go. James, will you go on a dinner date with me tomorrow night please?” I asked, and the Captain looked shocked at my sudden and unexpected request. “You have known sir?” he asked me nervously, “Yes, it takes one to know one remember, and no I don’t mind that you are a bit older than me,” I replied smiling.

“Well in that case… sir, I would be honoured, will it be a restaurant in town or here on board the yacht?” the Captain replied, “Firstly, my name is Edwin when we are alone, and secondly I think just a cosy dinner here would be best,” I replied.

“About bloody time,” I heard Hunter say from somewhere on the yacht, which made me frown at first then burst out laughing, and James joined me. “You said before, that Brad and Craig call you Sir Mate, I would be more comfortable calling you that for a while until I get comfortable with being around you a lot more,” James said to me, and I smiled and nodded my head.

“If you must, I can agree on that, now we will keep this quiet for now, apart from big ears Hunter, who knows to keep his big trap shut, and see how it goes,” I commented, “I heard that My Lord,” Hunter said before he entered the Saloon with a big smile.

“We will be back tomorrow, and I think I will stay overnight in my suite on the yacht tomorrow, so make sure it is ready, and Hunter’s cabin as well,” I said as I stood up. “Very well sir, it will be done, good night,” James replied, as he gave a short bow, and as we headed down to the main deck, as we heard the arrival of the boat, which was perfect timing.

Once back at the Manor, Hunter and I sat down in the drawing room, “I didn’t see the Catamaran at the jetty tonight?” Hunter commented, “No, the crew are on a two week holiday on their own on the cat, as I have decided to sell it, so as a farewell present, they are getting a paid holiday, and are cruising around the southern end of the harbour,” I replied to Hunter. “Very generous of you sir,” Hunter responded.

“Do you have any thoughts about this request by the production company; I noticed they didn’t mention a location, so I am wondering if it will be around the western Pacific?” I asked. “Well sir, I do have a few recommendations, firstly that we employ a full time paramedic for the time that the production is on progress, she or he can have the cabin across from the hospital on the main deck.

I also suggest that I move to the cabin next door to the hospital, with the stairs nearby giving me quick access to the upper deck. I also recommend having key card locks installed to the bridge hallway and the Owners Lounge, with just the senior officers, myself and you having the only key cards, so we will get a bit of peace and quiet from the chaos that is soon to hit us,” Hunter said.

“I agree, and I think before dinner tomorrow, we sit down with the senior crew to let them know of what is happening, so they can be ready for it. I am going to ask Samantha Hart, if she would take on a new role, as Chief Bosun for this little experiment, that way we will have senior crew in all departments, to monitor everything, and they will have seniority over the other crew that the production crew bring onboard,” I suggested.

“Yes sir, I think that is a very wise decision,” Hunter said to me. “Shame about loosing Andrea, but I think I have a solution to that one, I will make a phone call shortly to Zurich to resolve that issue. Now that leaves us with how many crew now?” I asked.

“Captain James, Chief Engineer Louise, Chef Renaldo, Chief Steward Elizabeth, and Chief Bosun Samantha, five in total,” Hunter replied, “With only two of them, being men. I wonder how that will be received by the production crew,” I said, and Hunter chuckled about this.

“Ok, now I have one last thing to discuss, before I must make those calls to Zurich. I have been planning this for a while, with the assistance of my cousin Robert.

I have located a yacht that is just three metres smaller but has one extra guest suite, that I have purchased, and it is currently on its way here from Singapore. Only the Captain knows about this.

Therefore, it will be the new yacht that will be doing this television thing, and not this one. This yacht is due for an upgrade, which will take six months to complete, and will be done in Singapore.

The yacht is called Saluzi, and it is 69 metres or 226 ½ feet long, built by Australian Company Austal, and on its last refit, they installed better engines to boost the cruising speed from 11 knots up to 16 knots, which is two knots faster than what the current yacht can do. This new yacht has more cabins for crew, and I like the layout of this new yacht much better.

The sundeck has two jacuzzi’s and plenty of sun beds, a bar area and outdoor kitchen and a lounge area, that includes an outdoor cinema screen, and there is a 21 metre long water slide. On the bridge deck, the front is same as the current yacht, with the bridge, captain and 1^st officer’s cabins, and behind them are two master suites.

The foyer area provides access to the main stairs, the backup generator room, bridge deck saloon and aft deck, with stairs down to the aft upper deck. There are electronic keycard locks already in place, leading into the Bridge corridor, and to the bridge saloon, from the foyer.

On the upper deck, there is a gym plus a wet and dry spa and six VIP cabins, upper deck saloon, and aft deck. The two lifeboats are also located on this deck amidships. The main deck has a hospital clinic, doctor’s cabin, two double and four twin guest cabins, plus a VIP Suite, which is two square metres bigger than the other VIP cabins.

Just before the main foyer, there is a six-seat meeting room and a utility work area for the crew, while the foyer has an information desk and very small computer room, a day WC, the main stairs and the main yacht entry points, port and starboard.

Behind the foyer is the main galley, pantry, the main dining and lounge area and the aft outside deck, plus the stairs leading down to the swim platform, which is also the location of the sports equipment garage. This contains a jet tender, two jet skis, and will include my wave rider. In addition, four double kayaks, a sea pool and a few sea toys.

The lower deck has the engine room, laundry, linen storage, eight officer’s cabins, and ten twin crew cabins, plus the crew galley, crew lounge and dining area, and there is an additional forward officer’s lounge, located forward of the officer’s cabins, and behind the storage locker,” I announced. “Well that sounds great, when does it get here?” Hunter asked.

“It arrived in Darwin yesterday, so it will be another ten days before it gets down to Newcastle, where I am having it fully inspected, and it will be where the transport crew will take this yacht back to Singapore. I have decided to give you the choice, you can have the master suite across from my suite or you can have the last Officer’s cabin on the lower deck,” I replied.

“As much as I want to take the officer’s cabin, which is way too far away, I will take up the suite opposite you, if that is ok with you sir,” Hunter replied, “Yes, I thought you might. I will have the layout plans of the Saluzi emailed to you, so you can start getting familiar with it,” I replied smiling.

After a call to the yacht company that I had done a short cruise with on Lake Zurich and Lake Walen in Zurich, I had secured an additional two more crewmembers, 1^st officer Gretchen Fischer and her younger brother Marius, who is a qualified Bosun.

My next call was to the real estate agency in Zurich to cancel my booking for the apartment, I made a mental note that I needed to organise a paramedic first thing tomorrow, and I would get Brad to do that for me, so as to keep the yacht out of media.

The next morning, I started some walking along the boardwalk from the manor to the jetty, to strengthen my injured foot, and mid morning, I settled into my office and began making some calls, the first been to Brad, telling him what I wanted and why, and I emailed him what I was looking for.

An Australian or New Zealander, passport with at least three years left on it, must have at least ten years paramedical experience, must have no issues with people of sexual preference, religion or ethnicity, and most importantly has no troubles with motion sickness on boats.

After lunch, I packed a bag with some clothes to spend a few days, and I suggested to Charles and Elizabeth that they do the same, which caught them by surprise, and Hunter just chuckled when he saw this. Once we all were ready, we climbed into the sports motor yacht, and headed for town, where we would moor alongside the yacht at the Risby Cove Jetty.

Once onboard the main yacht, I asked James, who had come down to meet us, along with chief steward Elizabeth, to call the remaining crew to the owners lounge on the bridge deck, and the chief steward lead my house staff to the upper deck, to get settled in their suites.

Once all five senior crew were gathered, I stood up. “Remain seated please, I have a couple special announcements to make, firstly I have bought a slightly smaller yacht, with this one to be sold in Singapore once the new one has arrived in Newcastle.

It is only three metres smaller, but it has an addition guest suite and guest cabin, it also has additional crew cabins and an officer’s lounge.

Because of the recent departure of alot of crewmembers, I have managed to secure the employment of two more crewmembers, who are brother and sister from Switzerland.

Gretchen will be our new 1^st Officer, and her brother Marius will be the new Chief Bosun. I will also be employing a Paramedic, either from Australia or New Zealand, which is being advertised. All officers and senior crew will all have your own double bed crew cabins on the new yacht.

With that said, I am soon to accept a request for a thirteen-week long charter, which will be very new experience to all of you. Many of you are maybe familiar with the American television reality show called Below Deck; well they have requested the use of my yacht for the reboot of the series, which has been in hiatus for the past six years,” I announced.

“Will that mean we will be on this television show, sir?” Renaldo asked in Italian, and I replied in English, “Renaldo just asked if you crew will be on this show, and the answer is no, unless you really want too. One of the conditions that will be put to the production company is that there will be a permanent crew onboard the whole time.

All of you; will have authority over the crew being filmed, in your specific departments, especially when it comes to matters of safety of all people onboard and any risks of damage to the yacht, plus Hunter and I will also be onboard the whole time too.

This new yacht is fairly simular in layout, especially on the bridge deck, which has electronic keycards needed to gain access to the bridge corridor and the bridge deck saloon. The Captain, 1^st Officer, Chief Steward, as well as Hunter and I will be the only ones with those keycards.

If you need to get to the Bridge, contact by internal telephone in the foyer first, and someone will let you in. From what I have been informed about the yacht, it has been fitted with security cameras throughout the common areas of the yacht, and can only be viewed in the ship’s office, and none of the filming crew or production crew is to know this.

The yacht’s name is Laluzi, and although it was built in Western Australia, by Austal; it has been in Asia for the past two decades, with two lots of remodelling.

The yacht has plenty of twin cabins to accommodate all of the filming crew and production team that will be onboard over these 13 weeks, and upper deck has six VIP Cabins, while the main deck has six Guest Cabins and one Guest Suite, so there could be up to twenty-six guests onboard at any one time.

We will leave the crew that are being filmed to do most of the work looking after the guests, while you will take on a supervisory role in the background. The bridge and engineering officers are the only exception to this, as they are the key crew onboard, to keep the yacht running.

Does anyone have any questions?” I announced, “Yes sir, so if we see anything dangerous, or possible cause damage, do we just say stop or what do we do?” Louise the Chief Engineer asked, “Good question Louise, yes but you will not just say stop, you will shout ‘Stop’, and part of the contract will be that filming and all temporary crew must immediately stop, what they are doing.

If they do not do as you have said, you will give the warning again and immediately contact the Bridge. If need be stand in front of the camera to block them, and if someone is in real danger, grab hold of that person and move them away. I will be including that in the contract as well, so there will be no situation of being sued for manhandling.

Anything else you want too ask me? If not now, just jot down anything that springs to mind and mention it to me or to Captain James, thankyou for attending, you can return to work now,” I said.

When all the crew but Captain James had left, I turned to face him, “Just to let you know, the word is out, all the current crew know about our little dinner date tonight,” James said to me, and Hunter gave a short laugh as he left the room. Moments later, we heard him talking to someone, and shortly after Charles and Elizabeth appeared.

“Wow, talk about luxury cabins, they are so nice Sir,” Elizabeth said to me, “Yes, well you deserve a bit of comfort and luxury, we will be onboard for about a week, so you might as well enjoy it, just think of it as being on a ships cruise,” I replied.

“Hunter told us that there are only five crew members onboard at the moment,” Charles said, “Yes that is correct, we had a mass group of resignations, after that chase situation with those men, which has shaken up a lot of them, so they decided to resign. Luckily we still have all of the key crew onboard, which is all we need,” I replied.

The dinner date went very well, which we had up on the sundeck, with just Hunter and Elizabeth serving us, and after the meals was cleared away we spent about two hours just chatting getting to know each other a little better.