Frontier - 39. FR Chapter 39

“With permission from the school, and parents of the students, I wish to offer the school staff, students and their families, free of charge, the opportunity to have a tour of our yacht tomorrow at the Portobello Jetty from 9am to 12 noon,” I announced, and there was a lot of chatter amongst the students. Mrs Nichols stood up and motioned for everyone to quieten down.

“Thank you, Mr Hamilton, for your generous offer, which will be passed onto all of the parents. I will allow those students who wish to speak to Neale and Jedd, an extra fifteen minutes before they must go to class. That is all,” Mrs Nichols announced.

About twenty students came up to the edge of the stage to speak to the boys, and most of them wanted to know more about living on a yacht, while a few hung back a while to wait for the others to leave.

“Anton, these are my best friends Jake and Lloyd. They are cousins,” Neale announced to me.

“These are my best friends Tim and Oscar,” Jedd added, and I shook all four boy’s hands.

“I hope that we can see you on the yacht tomorrow. Actually how about you boys come along at 1pm, and we will give you and your parents a personal tour without the crowds,” I said to them, and the boys were happy with this news.

“Don’t tell anyone at school about it. Just tell your parents that’s all, ok?” Neale said to the four boys, who nodded their heads in agreement, before they raced off to attend classes, just as Mrs Nichols arrived.

“Now, what are you boys doing about getting an education?” she asked my brothers.

“Actually, for the past three weeks, none at all, because of everything that has been happening. I have been trying to get some school material, but a lot of things keep happening. I did manage to get some educational books while we were in Invercargill, but I haven’t set down a timetable for the boys to study,” I admitted.

“Well then, you don’t mind if the boys spend the rest of the day in this school, do you?” Mrs Nichols asked me.

“I would be most grateful, Ma’am,” I replied, and after giving the boys some money for lunch, they were sent on their way to class, and smiling I left the school, and headed back towards the jetty, meeting Simon on the way, as he was at the café.

“Where are the boys?” Simon asked me.

“Where they should be of course - at school learning,” I replied with a smile and Simon just laughed. “I have made an open invitation for the school community to come and tour the yacht tomorrow, from 0900 to 1200 hours, so we better get to work and get her polished up for all the visitors,” I announced to Simon, who stopped suddenly. When I realised this, I turned to see his mouth wide open, and I smiled.

“Are you serious?” Simon asked, and I just smiled and nodded my head and waited for Simon to catch up.

Once back on the yacht, we got to work to start cleaning every inch of the yacht. I decided that we would put the cover on the Jacuzzi, so that no one would accidentally fall in, and we would make sure all the crew pontoon cabins and external hatches were locked, as well as the door to the bridge. But we would leave three guest cabins open for the visitors to inspect.

Simon suggested that we have the pontoons open, as well as the swimming platform, so they can look at the dinghies. He also suggested setting up the gazebo at the end of the jetty, as the gateway to the yacht, so we can limit the number of people on the yacht at any one time, and that we should also wear our uniforms. After a short break for lunch, we headed back to the jetty on the dinghy, as I need to make some arrangements. Firstly, I wanted to call into the local police station, to let them know of the open invitation to the school community to tour the yacht, and how we intended to limit the number of people on board to just 16 at any one time, in groups of six.

The police officer thanked us for letting them know, and that they would come down to monitor the event, intermittently, to make sure everything was under control. Next, we went to the local store to do some food shopping, coming out of there with a very full trolley, which we were permitted to take down to the jetty, as long as it was returned. While Simon took the shopping over to the yacht in the dinghy, I returned the shopping trolley, and thanked the owners, before I made my way back to the jetty, where I waited till Simon returned to pick me up, and back on the yacht, I helped him to put away all of the shopping.

“I think that shop keeper was a little surprised that we bought so much food supplies,” Simon said to me as we sat down for a rest and a cup of tea.

We worked for another two hours, before we stopped, so as to go and collect the boys from school. They were already on the jetty waiting for us when we arrived.

“Hello, Boys. How was your day at school? Did you enjoy it?” I asked them.

“Yes, it was awesome to hang out with my friends again,” Neale said.

“Me too,” Jedd added with a big smile, as we made our way back to the yacht.

Once the boys had changed out of their good clothes, the boys helped to put the cover on the Jacuzzi, and hosed down the decks, so they were all clean. About an hour later, Simon announced that he had the dinghy packed and ready for the jetty, so we all climbed into the dinghy and we made our way back to the jetty, where we set up the gazebo on the west end of the jetty. We set up two of the tables on each side of the gazebo, to narrow it down to one thin access way. Once this was done, we headed back to the yacht, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We had a simple dinner of tomato and cheese on toast, followed by popcorn while we watched a movie.

Once the boys had showered and gone to bed, I opened up the laptop and made up some signs for the next day. One was “No Entry – Crew Only” which would be placed on the bridge door, and the others would be just directional signs. The next morning, we were all up by 0800. Even Simon had a sleep in for a change, and we joined together to make breakfast, and ate it in the crew mess area, since all the guest areas were now spotlessly clean.

Making sure that only the master, queen and twin guest cabins were open, while the other two were locked, and that the pontoon crew cabins were all locked, all hatches and storage lockers were locked, we pulled up the anchors and raised the main sail, and sailed out into the harbour a little way, before turning and heading straight for the Portobello Jetty. All four of us were in uniform, and with Simon standing on the foredeck and the boys on the aft deck, they were ready with the mooring ropes. As we neared the jetty, Simon pulled down the mainsail, and we drifted towards the jetty with the remaining speed from the wind, going about and coming right up to the jetty in one swift manoeuvre that impressed everyone. We received some applause from the crowd that had gathered.

Simon and Neale tossed the mooring ropes to two men who were standing on the edge of the jetty, and the yacht was secured. It was only then that I looked up from the fly bridge to see the huge line of people waiting to have a look at the yacht.

“Si, Boys, come up here for a moment will you please,” I said to my crew, and when they arrived and saw what I was seeing they were astonished.

“Holy smokes! We are going to be here for a week with this crowd,” Simon said, and he and the boys headed downstairs. Simon made sure that the bridge door was locked, and the saloon doors open wide, for easy access. He also put the video clip of the whales, that we had filmed near Esperance onto the big screen in the formal lounge. I picked up the radio mike, and turned it onto ‘Outdoor PA’.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, thank you for coming today. For everyone’s safety, we will be having a maximum of 16 people on board at a time, so please be patient and hopefully everyone will get to come on board,” I announced, before coming downstairs, and heading to the foredeck of the pontoon, where one of the boarding ramps had been set up. The other was located on the swim platform. Neale and Jedd remained on the yacht with Simon, and I headed across to the jetty, arriving just when Senior Constable Davies arrived.

“Good morning, Mr Hamilton. It appears that you have become the talk of the town, so my colleague and I will be taking it in turns to assist with crowd control for this event,” he said to me.

“Thank-you, Senior Constable, that is much appreciated. I had no idea that we would be getting such a big crowd. It will be just 16 people at a time please, so it’s safe for everyone,” I replied with a smile, and I returned to the yacht followed by the first group of visitors. We split into two groups, Simon taking one group downstairs to look at the guest cabins, while I took the other group upstairs to the fly bridge.

As we came back down, Simon was showing his group the main living areas, so I took my group down to the guest cabins. That is how the tour groups went for the remainder of the morning, with each group tour lasting 15 minutes. The last tour ended at 12.45pm, a little over the set finishing time, and we had a total of 240 visitors on the yacht in that time, which I learnt from the police was about a quarter of the population in town. I thanked the police officers for their assistance, as the boys and I folded up the tables and packed away the gazebo, storing them away in the storage locker behind the swim platform. Just as we had finished, four boys and three adults appeared with big smiles.

“Hello, I am Anton Hamilton, half-brother of these rascals, Neale and Jedd,” I said to them with a big smile.

“Hey, we are not rascals,” Jedd protested.

Turning around, I shouted out, “Simon, we have a mutiny. Get the walking plank out,” I said in a serious tone.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” came Simon’s reply from the fly bridge.

I looked back at my brothers. They looked shocked, and I burst out laughing, and Simon joined in.

“That is not funny, Anton,” Neale said to me seriously, and I could see that our visitors were amused at the antics. I stopped laughing and looked at the boys’ friends and the adults.

“Sorry, it’s been a very busy morning. I just needed a moment to let off some steam. Welcome on board,” I said to the visitors. The adults were Jake’s parents – Anne and Hugh Easton and the principal - Mrs Sara Nichols, who I learnt was Oscar’s mum. She had with her a large picnic basket, and Anne also carried one.

“When we saw the huge crowds, we decided to put together a picnic for all of us, as we presumed that none of you would have eaten yet,” Anne Easton said to me.

“That is very thoughtful of you, and we will gladly accept your gift. Let us get away, and anchor in another bay, so we are well away from the crowds,” I replied.

Simon got to work to pull up the anchors and set the mainsail, as I headed up to the fly bridge, and the boys began to set the formal table with crockery, glasses and cutlery. Heading north towards the other side of Otago harbour, we went along the west side of Quarantine Island, and stopped in the bay, about 80 metres from shore, where we were well out of sight from Portobello.

Once the mainsail was down and the anchors were set, Simon and I headed indoors to join the guests.

“Well that was a short sail, but a lot more than we expected,” Hugh Easton said to me.

“I assure you, Sir, that we will do some more once lunch is over. It looks like the boys have been busy,” I replied as I admired the table, which was beautifully set. All the food and drinks were laid out, and Simon appeared from the bridge area, with a bowl of salad, which he said he just quickly rustled up.

Going to the small bar fridge, aft deck servery, I retrieved soft drinks for all the boys, and a bottle of white wine for the adults, and fruit juice for Simon and me, as we had yacht duties to do afterwards. When the boys had finished their lunch, and asked to be excused, I smiled and said yes, knowing that Neale and Jedd wanted to show them around the yacht.

“What about the crew areas?” Jedd asked when he stopped mid stride from leaving the table.

“You can show them a pontoon crew cabin that is vacant. Remember that Jasper still has some of his stuff on board, and you can show them your cabin, and the galley and mess area, but no more beyond there,” I said to my brothers, who looked disappointed that they couldn’t show their friends the crew lounge, beyond my cabin. Once the boys had left to explore the yacht, I smiled at our guests.

“We will be happy to show you all around too,” I said to the adult guests.

“Not before you show us your kitchen, so we can help with cleaning up,” Sara said to me and I chuckled when I saw Simon frown.

“You will have to ask the cook. The galley is his domain,” I said to them as I indicated towards Simon, who changed his frown to a smile.

“I guess it is ok just this one time,” Simon responded, and the ladies helped Simon to stack up the plates, cutlery and glasses and carry them downstairs.

“So, Anton, tell me how you came about to part own a magnificent yacht like this,” Hugh Easton asked me, and I gave him a shortened version of my life story, and how we bought the trimaran yacht.

“Wow, that is quite a life you have had. Sorry to hear about your mother passing away recently. How are the boys coping with it?” Hugh said to me.

“Quite well actually, especially when I keep them busy. We had a charter from Fremantle to Hobart, which was good, but I had to restrict their access to outside, while we crossed over to New Zealand, especially when we went through a gale storm. They didn’t like that very much,” I replied.

“I can understand that. I am a skipper myself, rock lobster fisherman, based at Careys Bay, which is directly across the other side of the harbour. I have a crew of two, plus me, and we usually go out at about 0400, and back by 1300 hours. Anne is the librarian at the school, so she is able to get the boys off to school on time, and make sure they do their homework. We are guardians for our nephew, Lloyd, as his parents are unable to care for him, or their other son, Micha, who is living with my aunt in Oamaru, about a 1½ hour drive north of here,” Hugh explained.

I stood up and led the way up to the fly bridge, where we found the four boys in the Jacuzzi, with shirts and shorts scattered on the floor, and the cover located on the lounge seat.

“Looks like I better go and get some towels,” I said to Hugh, and I headed back downstairs and went to the linen store, to get four fresh towels, returning to the fly deck a few minutes later, where I saw Hugh looking at the helm controls.

“Not much different than what I have on the cray boat, except you have a lot more advanced technology,” Hugh said to me.

“Yes, but it doesn’t take long to master it all,” I replied with a smile, as I picked up the radio and called Simon.

“Ready to get under way, please Simon,” I said to him.

“Righto, Skipper,” Simon replied, and moments later he was on the deck pulling up the two anchors and raising the mainsail, before packing away the anchors and ropes. Once we had rounded the north corner of Quarantine Island, I set a course towards the entry to Otago Harbour, and out into the South Pacific Ocean.

“Tell me, Hugh, are you working tomorrow?” I asked innocently.

“No, actually I have a few days off. We did have plans for the whole weekend, but we changed them, when this offer came up,” Hugh replied to me.

Without Hugh seeing me, I checked the navigation panel in front of me, and worked out the distance and time, to get to Oamaru, and smiled when I saw that it would only take 3 ½ hours.

“How about we do some coastal sailing out of the harbour? Will you be ok with that?” I asked Hugh.

“Yes, that would be fantastic, thanks, Anton. A lot more than we expected,” Hugh replied happily.

Less than ten kilometres later, we were in the open ocean. By that time, the boys had decided to get out, dried off and headed downstairs to watch a movie on the big screen in the formal lounge.

I asked Hugh to take the helm, with a heading of 020 degrees, and he happily took the helm, and I headed downstairs, which caught my brothers by surprise.

“Its ok, Boys. Jake’s dad is a fishing skipper. He has the helm at the moment,” I explained as I headed downstairs. I heard laughter coming from the galley.

“Hey, who’s at the helm?” Simon said a little shocked to see me.

“That would be my husband for a guess. He is a fishing skipper,” Anne explained to Simon and I just smiled.

“We are out at sea now. We thought we would take you out for a sail for the rest of the afternoon. Simon, can you arrange for afternoon tea and dinner for all of our guests, as we will be late getting back to Portobello,” I said to my good mate.

“Aye, aye, Skipper,” Simon replied.

“And we will gladly help you, Young Man,” Sara added.

“Permission to jump overboard, Skipper?” Simon asked me and I gave a short laugh.

“Not this time. Sorry, Simon,” I said and continued chuckling as I headed upstairs. I stopped at the desk to get a current weather report, which said fine weather and good winds for the rest of the day and evening. When I arrived on the fly bridge, I saw Hugh smiling broadly, as he looked straight ahead.

“You look right at home there, Hugh,” I said to him.

“I have always wanted to try sailing a yacht, but have never had the chance until now, and it is wonderful. I wish I had done this when I was a lot younger,” Hugh replied.

“Well, you can stay at the helm if you wish. We will only have a few minor course changes, over the next 3 hours,” I said to Hugh.