Frontier - 36. FR Chapter 36

About an hour later I had grilled lamb chops with potato and pumpkin mash, and minted peas, and while the boys ate their dinner, I took the remaining two plates up to the bridge so I could eat dinner with Simon. We chatted as we ate and took it in turns to man the helm.

“I was thinking about that area forward of the master crew cabin. We could relocate that dinghy to the aft storage area, and make that forward area into an executive lounge with access from the master crew cabin,” I said to Simon.

“So, we will have an extra recreation space, for the senior crew and family,” Simon stated and I nodded my head. We sat there in silence contemplating this idea. “Yes, I think it is a great idea, Anton. When do you want to make the changes?” Simon said breaking the silence.

“I thought while we are in Invercargill, once we have cleared customs and quarantine,” I replied.

“So have you worked out our estimated time of arrival at Invercargill tomorrow?” Simon asked.

“Around 1100 hours tomorrow morning, if the weather is kind to us,” I responded.

Leaving Simon at the helm, I headed out to the main living area. I was joined by my brothers, as we got to work to set out the formal dining chairs and the coffee tables which had been tossed around a bit during the storm. Once we had completed this we went out to the aft deck, where everything was in order, with the chairs still secured with the straps as I had left them. I decided to leave them there.

I suggested to the boys that they change into their swimming togs and bring towels, so they could go into the Jacuzzi for a while, which the boys were thrilled about. They dashed indoors and downstairs to get changed returning less than fifteen minutes later. We headed up to the fly bridge and the boys jumped into the Jacuzzi. After nearly an hour in the Jacuzzi the boys climbed out and dried off, and I followed them downstairs to the aft main deck and indoors and downstairs to shower and get ready for bed.

I checked on the weather, while chatting to Simon, and the report showed an increase of winds, but mild seas, which I was pleased to see, as it could mean an earlier arrival time. Once I had checked on the boys, who were already in bed, I took over at the helm, and Simon went downstairs to finish cleaning up in the galley, coming back with a cup of tea for me. He stayed to chat for a while.

At about 2200 hours, I pulled out the sat phone and called Gramps mobile number. “Hello, Anton. How is the trip to NZ going?” Gramps said as soon as he answered.

“Yes, all good now. We had a very rough day yesterday, as we went through a gale. We closed the pontoons to avoid any pontoon damage, and we had to pull down the sails and go through it under power, as Simon couldn’t handle it all under those conditions,” I replied.

“I’m glad you called, as I have been thinking about the boys’ situation. I have written up a letter that I was going to send to you in the morning, but I will send it as soon as we have finished this call. With the boys having NZ passports, and you still being under age, I have written a letter, giving you temporary custody, while I am in hospital recovering from the car accident. I have included all the details stating that the boys’ late mother is my daughter, and that their father is also deceased, plus I have stated that you are a half-brother to the boys.

I’ve included a copy of your mum’s birth certificate, that has my name on it, and with your birth certificate, that should be enough to keep them happy. Have a great time in New Zealand. Make sure you take some time having a good look around,” Gramps said to me.

“Thanks, Gramps, I will do that. Speak to you in a couple of days. Bye for now,” I said.

During the night, the yacht flew through the ocean, and an hour before the first sign of daylight, I was surprised to see a large island on the navigation screen. As I panned in, I saw that it was Stewart Island, just south of Invercargill, which was only 65 kilometres away from the yacht harbour now, which was just 2 ½ hours away. With dawn being 0810 hour’s local time, I estimated that we would arrive at 0900 hours.

Simon appeared with a cup of tea for me just before 0700. “Good morning, Skipper. Sorry I am late. I forgot to set my alarm last night,” Simon said to me.

“That’s ok, Mate. We have Stewart Island in front and to the starboard of us. We have made good time getting here. We will be at the yacht harbour in about 2 ½ hours’ time,” I informed Simon.

“Wow, that’s good. Do you want me to raise the quarantine flag for customs,” Simon responded.

“Yes please. Then some breakfast would be nice,” I replied with a smile.

I heard the boys chatting to Simon a few minutes later, and Jedd appeared with a plate of toast for me.

“Good morning, Anton. Simon tells us we are at Invercargill early,” Jedd said to me.

‘That is correct. So now we are close to shore, you two can go outdoors now. Just stay away from the edge,” I said to my brother, who headed back downstairs to have some breakfast.

Turning on the radio, I changed the channel to 16, and picked up the mic. “Luxury yacht Last Frontier, to New Zealand customs at Bluff. Over,” and I waited for a reply.

“New Zealand customs to luxury yacht Last Frontier. What is your current location and estimated time of arrival at the Bluff harbour? Over”.

Over the next few minutes I gave the required information, and I was instructed where to moor the yacht. Once this was done, I concentrated on sailing east towards Island Harbour.

Once we had finally moored at the assigned jetty, the customs officers came on board the yacht. Simon had retrieved his passport, while I had retrieved my brothers’ and my passports.

“Good morning. Are you the skipper of this yacht?” one of the officers asked me.

“Yes, Sir, I am the skipper and part owner as well,” I said as I passed over the yacht’s papers, my passport, and the three-page document, that Gramps had sent to me.

Once the officer had read the document, I handed him my brothers’ passports.

“This is highly unusual. I am sorry for your recent loss. So what is the purpose of your visit to New Zealand?” the officer said to me.

“As you see from the document and passports, my half-brothers are New Zealanders by birth, with our mother being Australian. When their father was killed in a truck accident, my mother brought my brothers back to Australia, so the boys could meet me and our Grandfather. Unknown to me and my brothers, our mum had left the small farm property on lease, and just left the house locked up with whatever belongings they had not taken with them to Perth. We are here to deal with the property and belongings of the family and to have a look around your beautiful country. Simon here is my first mate,” I replied with a smile.

“Very well. You will have a three-month business visa. Enjoy your stay,” the officer said to me as he stamped the passports. Once they had finished, two other officers approached.

“We are quarantine services. Do you have anything to declare?” I was asked.

“Only some fresh food that will need to be removed, that we haven’t consumed,” I replied honestly.

Once the galley had been checked, and all fresh food had been bagged and removed, we were given clearance to step onto the jetty, and once we had locked up the yacht, we walked to the end of the jetty and called for a taxi to take us into the city, which was over 25 kilometres away.

While waiting for the taxi, I did a google search for marine carpenters, and seeing a good marine company, I entered their phone number into my mobile phone, then dialled the number.

“Good morning. I was wondering if you are able to do some urgent alterations to a luxury yacht. We have just arrived at the Bluff Yacht harbour, and will only be here for a few days,” I said as soon as the call was answered.

“We are a little quiet at the moment, so that is possible. What are the details of the yacht and the berth number?” came a reply.

“We are a Blue Coast 160-foot, 48-metre long, three deck trimaran, with retractable pontoons. Her name is Last Frontier, and we are at berth 23,” I replied. There was a light whistle in return.

“That is one magnificent yacht you have there. I would be honoured to work on her,” came the reply.

“Good to hear. We are going into the city now, so let’s say 1400 hours at the berth?” I suggested.

“Very well, Sir. I will see you then. Goodbye,” the man said and the call was ended.

Once we arrived in the city, it was almost 10am, and I asked the taxi driver to take us for a short tour around the city, then drop us off at a tourist information centre. For three hour’s we had a good look around the city, and stopped for some lunch before we headed back to the yacht harbour, to meet up with the marine carpenters. We arrived back at the berth with a few minutes to spare, and we found a large van parked not far away with Marine Carpenters written on the side. So while Simon and the boys went back on board, I went to meet the carpenters.

“I am Anton Hamilton, skipper and part owner of the yacht Last Resort,” I said the gentleman standing near the van’s driver door.

“Hello. I am Mike, and I have Frank and Stewart with me,” the gentleman replied.

“Nice to meet you, and yes I am young, but I am a qualified skipper, and I have just sailed over from Hobart with my crew. We have a storage area in the forecastle of the yacht, just behind the bosun’s locker and ahead of the skipper’s cabin. It currently holds a spare dinghy, which we plan to relocate to the aft storage area, where the swim platform is.

“I would like to make that area into a senior crew lounge area. Maybe have two single bunks, that can be used as lounge seating, along each side from the back wall, with cabinetry along the front, that will contain a large screen television, and storage cupboards,” I said to Mike.

“That sounds possible. Show me the area, so we can get the measurements, then we can start first thing tomorrow morning, once we have all the wood,” Mike replied.

I led Mike and his team onto the yacht, and took them down to the forward crew area, and into my cabin, where I showed them where I wanted the access door from my cabin into the storage area. Then taking them back up outside and forward, I located the two hatch locks and unlocked the waterproof hatch door into the storage area. I climbed in and turned on the light, before Mike and his team joined me.

“There is a lot of room in here. We could do a lot for you. Let us take some measurements and draw up a rough plan, and I can email it to you later today, so you can see what you will get,” Mike said and I nodded my head and headed back up to the main deck, leaving them to get the measurements.

I returned a few minutes later, with Simon and we pulled the dinghy out of the storage area, and dragged it to the aft storage area, now that the swimming platform had been lowered. With this area not being full height, due to the engine room being directly below it, there was still plenty of room for the two dinghy’s, as well as the smaller storage lockers, that contained the extra outdoor chairs and fold up tables, two popup gazebos, and a couple of extra propane gas cylinders for the BBQ’s - the portable one, plus the one on the main aft deck.

When the carpenters had left, I went back down to my cabin, and emptied the low cupboard in the centre of the front wall, where the doorway would be located, relocating everything in it to other storage lockers in my cabin. Going to the galley, I retrieved the spare tool kit and returned to my cabin, where I began to dismantle the storage cupboard, trying not to cause too much damage, and doing it as neatly as possible.

When Simon appeared and saw what I was doing, he began to take all of the scrap wood up to the main deck, stacking it in one neat pile, to be removed later. Once it was all done, I discovered that the wall panel behind the cabinet, was the size of a doorway. I headed back upstairs, and grabbing a torch from the drawer in the Bridge, I headed to the forward storage area, where the hatch was still open. Once inside I looked carefully at the centre of the back wall, and discovered that the whole panel was only kept in place with hexagon screws.

“Simon, bring the tool kit to the forward storage area please,” I shouted through the wall.

“Ok, will do,” Simon replied clearly from the other side of the wall. It only took us about twenty minutes to carefully remove the screws that kept the wall panel in place, and with a little bit of force, we were able to pull the panel free, allowing direct access to my cabin.

“Can you go up and close and lock down the hatch please?” I asked Simon, and he climbed back up to the forward main deck to do as I asked, while I stood in the now empty storage area, looking at the area very carefully.

I estimated that the front wall was about 3 metres wide, and the back wall about four metres wide, and the length to be four metres, which meant there was certainly enough room for two bunk beds, that could be used for day lounges on each side, with storage cabinets at the end of each bed, and along the front wall. The floor to ceiling height being just 1.7 metres, gave very little head room. Luckily Simon and I are short for our age, and we could stand in there, with our hair touching the ceiling.

“What if you turn this area into your cabin, and make the cabin into the lounge area? It would mean a rougher ride for you, but it would also give more room for our lounge space,” Simon suggested after he had come back.

“Yes, we could do that. The other option is having it open to be part of my cabin, with no doorway, and have a lock installed on the inside of that outer hatch,” I suggested, and Simon smiled and nodded his head.

Back on the bridge I called Mike the carpenter, and made the recommended suggestions to make the storage area an extension to my cabin. I explained that we had removed the wall panel that connected the two areas. Mike said that he would be back at 4pm, to have a look at my suggestion, and to give a quote for the work.

“Where are the boys?” I asked Simon, realising that I hadn’t seen them in a while.

“I said they could relax in the Jacuzzi, so they quickly changed and headed up there soon after we got back from the city,” Simon replied and we both chuckled.

Simon headed down to the galley to start preparations for dinner, while I went to check on the boys, who were having a splashing fight in the Jacuzzi.

“How do you intend to replace the water that we have lost from all that splashing?” I asked my brothers, who stopped what they were doing and looked a little worried. I gave a little laugh.

“It’s ok, Guys. Just try not to lose too much water,” I said to them, and I headed back down stairs, and sat in an outdoor chair on the aft deck, to observe the surroundings of the harbour.

When the boys came down from their swim about half an hour later, they stopped beside me. “How will we refill the Jacuzzi, Anton?” Jedd asked, and I smiled.

“We have a hose that we can connect to the harbour water supply. It will only take about ten or so minutes to refill, depending on how much is on the deck, and not in the Jacuzzi. See that cable near the aft mooring rope?” I asked. “That is connected to the harbour power supply, so we don’t have to use our generator battery power,” I replied.

On saying that, I remembered that I needed to organise some more diesel fuel for the engine, since we had used a lot when we were going through the gale storm the other day, so I stood up and headed to the bridge to write down some notes of reminder, while the boys headed down to their cabin to shower and change.

While I was there, I decided to telephone Gramps to let him know what was happening here. He answered on the first ring.

“Hello, Anton. How are things in New Zealand?” Gramps asked.

“Good, and thanks for those documents. You were right. They did make a difference, and we have a three-month business visa to stay,” I replied

“That is great news. So what happens when your other three crew members come back, in a week’s time? Wouldn’t it be best to contact the lads and make sure they come to New Zealand, instead of flying over to Australia?” Gramps said to me.

“Good thinking. I will call Jasper shortly, but I will have to wait till tomorrow now to call Kirk and Leon, as it is about 2000 hours yesterday, over in Vancouver at the moment,” I said to Gramps, who just laughed.

“Ok, Grandson. I will talk to you again soon. Bye for now,” Gramps said and he ended the call.

Realising that it wasn’t really that late in Vancouver, I decided to give it a try to contact the lads.

“Hello, Boss. It’s only been two weeks. Are you missing us already?” Kirk said cheekily, and I laughed.

“Hello to you over there in yesterday land. How have your holidays been?” I replied to the lads.

“It’s been good thanks, Boss. You must be a mind reader, as we were going to contact you tomorrow. You see Vic and Rita have bought a remote holiday lodge, and they have offered us both jobs,” Leon announced.

“We want to accept the offer, if that is ok with you,” Kirk added, and I was a little surprised by the news.