Frontier - 44. FR Chapter 44

“How are you feeling now, Boss? We were very worried about you for some time,” Simon said to me, as I lay down.

“I’ve a nasty headache, but I will be fine. Sorry to drag you away from your beauty sleep,” I replied.

“That’s fine. I managed 4-hours sleep. That will do till we are at the yacht club,” Simon said to me, and I closed my eyes and was soon asleep. When I was woken up a few hours later, it was just coming daylight. “Good morning, Boss. How are you feeling this morning?” Simon asked with a smile, and I spotted a cup of tea on the coffee table nearby. I slowly sat up and grabbed the cup.

“Better now that I have a cuppa,” I replied with a smile.

“We have just entered Wellington harbour, about half an hour ahead of schedule. Sara is in the galley, and Finn is just doing a quick check of everything on decks after that big wave last night,” Simon informed me, as I continued to drink my tea.

“Good morning, Skipper. Here is your toast,” Sara said to me as she arrived with my breakfast from downstairs.

“Thanks, Sara, and thank you for all your help last night,” I said with a smile.

I stayed seated, while Simon handled the yacht through the harbour, and into the yacht club marina, where Toby and Finn jumped to work, lowering the mainsail, securing the yacht to the marina, and stowing away the sail, ready for its use later in the day.

“I think I will go to my cabin and rest for the day, as this headache doesn’t want to go away. I suggest you catch up on some sleep too, Simon,” I said as I stood up. Once I had steadied myself, I made my way across the pontoon to my cabin.

I had a quick shower, before heading to bed, and I fell asleep almost right away. When I woke up next, I could feel that the yacht was in motion, and looking at my watch, I was surprised to see that it was soon after 1500 hours. Once I was dressed in my uniform, I crossed over to the aft main deck, which wasn’t hard, as the pontoons were closed. The guests were gathered in the saloon lounge having afternoon tea, and playing cards.

I said hello to them, as I walked past and made my way into the main bridge, which was empty. I presumed that Simon was on the fly bridge, so I went downstairs to get something to eat.

“Hello, Skipper, are you feeling better?” Sara asked me, when she saw me come down the stairs.

“Yes, a little bit thanks. The headache has finally gone. What time did we set sail, and did Sion get enough sleep?” I replied.

“Only 1½ hours, and yes he appeared from his cabin, just as the guests were returning at 1300 hours,” Sara replied.

I sat down at the crew mess, and Sara placed a plate of cold meat and salad in front of me, which I hungrily devoured, before starting on the cheesecake that Sara had placed in front of me as I finished, followed by a cup of tea.

“Delicious thanks, Sara. I was quite hungry since I had such a small breakfast, and no lunch,” I said with a big smile, before letting out a loud burp. “Oops! Pardon me,” I said, and I could hear giggling coming from the crew lounge.

“Toby and Finn finally discovered the crew lounge after you went to your cabin this morning. They are amazed at how great it looks,” Sara said with a smile.

“Happy to please the crew. Now how are the guests going?” I asked Sara.

“Very happy as far as I am aware, Skipper,” Sara replied.

Once I had finished eating, I thanked her for the meal, and I headed upstairs in search of Simon. “Hey, 1^st Mate, how is the sailing going?” I said as I arrived at the top of the stairs.

“Good thanks, Skipper. We are making good time, and should arrive in Suva in 4½ days’ time,” Simon replied cheerfully.

“Did you get enough sleep while the guests were ashore?” I asked Simon.

“Yes, Skipper, I managed another 4½ hours’ sleep once the guests had left the yacht at 0800 this morning,” Simon replied.

“Good to hear. Let’s change the shifts slightly - make it so we change at 2300 and 1100 hours. That way we both get a good amount of day and night sailing?” I suggested.

“That is fine by me, Skipper,” Simon responded. I sat down at the opposite helm chair and chatted to Simon as we continued up the West coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It would be late afternoon the next day before we left the western tip of New Zealand and headed for Fiji.

On our second night at sea the winds and swells picked up, and I closed the pontoons for extra safety. When Simon handed over helm duties to me, I could see that he was relieved to have finished his shift for the day.

“Go and have a good night’s rest, and I will see you tomorrow,” I said to Simon. He headed downstairs to relax a little before heading over to his pontoon cabin. We had now passed 200 km’s north of New Zealand in a North-East direction, and completed 1½ days of the journey with three days to go.

During daylight hours Simon and I would be at the fly deck helm, and at night in the main bridge. Toby and Finn kept busy keeping the guests fed and occupied, as well as serving our meals at the helm. We kept to a set routine so as to get plenty of sleep between shifts, and when not at the helm, we would chat to each other for a while.

As we neared Fiji, almost 4 hours ahead of schedule, the guests were in the Jacuzzi happily soaking with all the bubbles, and chatting about anything and everything. I found it quite amusing when I overheard their discussions while I was at the helm.

“Fiji just ahead of us. We will be there in about thirty minutes. You will need your passports, so we can clear customs when we arrive,” I announced to the guests, as I arrived on the fly deck.

I had spent the past twenty minutes in the main bridge on the telephone talking to the Fijian Customs service, informing them of our arrival and giving them all the required information of how many crew and how many guests, etc.

“How long are we staying here in Fiji?” I was asked by one of the guests.

“I have allowed two full days, if that is ok with you folk,” I replied to them with a smile.

“That’s marvellous. I think we will have dinner tonight and lunch each day on the mainland, if that is ok with you,” came the happy reply.

“Yes, Sir, that is fine. I will let the cook know of the change of plans,” I said, before heading downstairs.

When I arrived in the crew area, Sara was not in the galley, so I went forward, and found her in the study. “Hi, I am just organising the boys school work for the next stage for the journey. So far they have been attending classes on time, and they are all doing very well,” Sara said to me.

“Once we are cleared from customs, and the guests have left for the day tomorrow, you can take the boys on a geography excursion around the island. I will give you some money to cover any transport and food costs. The guests will be having lunch on the mainland for the next two days,” I said to Sara.

“Great idea, Skipper! I am sure they will enjoy a full day out, especially if I can talk the lads into doing food prep for dinner for me,” Sara replied with a big grin, and I gave a short laugh.

“I am sure that can be arranged. Oh and the guests are having dinner on the island tonight as well, so it will be just the crew,” I replied. Once we were moored at the Royal Suva Yacht club, the customs came on board, and checked out passports. Then they headed to the crew and guest cabins for a quick check, and finally the galley, which was fine, as we had run out of fresh food two days earlier.

Once we were all cleared, the guests made their way onto the island to enjoy a great night out on the Fijian Island, and I took my brothers out for a look around, after volunteering Simon to remain behind for a couple of hours. When we returned, shortly before 1900 hours, Sara had dinner ready for us, and we all sat down in the formal dining room to eat, since all the guests were on the island. During dinner, Sara told us that she and Oscar had spent just over an hour looking around Suva, and they were amazed at how wonderful the place looked. I asked Simon if he would be going for a look around after dinner, and he said he would wait till the morning.

Once the guests had returned shortly before 2100 hours, we locked up the saloon external doors for security purposes. Simon and I had already locked up our pontoon cabins with the pontoons currently in the closed position, as I prefer when we are moored at a yacht club. After dinner, I had let my brothers and Oscar spend some time in the Jacuzzi, while the guests were away and before they had to get ready for bed. They had a great time, with me watching them as well as being on watch duty, which I had decided we should do while in Fiji.

The next day, after the guests had left for the day, Simon went off exploring with Toby and Finn, while Sara took the three boys on a school excursion. I remained behind on the yacht. I locked the saloon doors, and headed up to the fly deck with board shorts on, a towel and a good book to read, and I spend a relaxing couple of hours in the Jacuzzi, till I saw Simon and the lads returning with some shopping in their hands, which made me chuckle. Seeing the saloon door locked, Simon pulled out his set of keys and opened the doors, before heading over to his cabin, while the lads went down to their cabin. I dried off and made my way downstairs, and put my t-shirt back on after having it off to get a bit of a tan. When Simon returned, we headed to the galley to make ourselves some lunch, and headed up to the dining room to eat.

“The next part of the journey will be 5¾ days. We will leave at sunrise in two days, as the first ten hours. We will be passing by various small Fijian Island. I thought we might break up the journey into pieces, with a half day stop in Samoa, which is just under two days from Suva. We should get there at around 0100 hours, two days after we leave Suva. If we leave at dusk that same day, we will get to Kiribati 3 ¾ days later, sometime in the morning,” I announced to the crew.

“Sounds good to me, Skipper,” Simon said cheerfully.

“And us too, Anton,” Finn said.

“Good. I will let the guests know when they return tonight,” I added as I continued to eat.

“How long will it take us to get from Kiribati to Hawaii?” Toby asked me.

“About 3 ½ days,” I replied between mouthfuls.

All the crew managed to get some more shore leave while the guests were enjoying some of the hospitality of the Fijian community. We also got the yacht clean which I tried to have done at each shore stop. Before dawn on our departure day I woke up Toby and Finn. We set off from the yacht club on a perfect day with good winds and good seas with a low swell, making it ideal for sailing. We made good time and arrived at Samoa just after midday almost two days later.

While the guests were on shore, all the crew got to work to clean up. There were the guest’s beds to be changed, all living areas to be thoroughly cleaned, outside decks to be cleaned, laundry to be done, and while this was happening, the boys were busy in the study doing their school work, which Sara reported they were doing very well at. Simon and the lads also spent two hours doing some food shopping to stock up the pantry with fresh food and additional supplies required for the remainder of the journey.

The journey to Kiribati was also just as smooth as the earlier leg of the journey, and we sailed into the harbour just two hours after dawn nearly four days later, while the guests were having breakfast in the aft deck dining area. I informed the guests that we would be leaving Kiribati at dawn the next day, so they had the whole day to relax and explore, once we had passed customs. Once again, when the guests had left for the day, the crew got to work to clean, and it was all completed by lunch time, giving the crew some time for shore leave.

Sara agreed to take the boys to look around the island, while I remained on the yacht, so the rest of the crew could also have some shore leave. I was happy to just relax on the fly deck and read a book. As I headed to the bridge after dinner, I checked the weather report, which didn’t look too good for the last stage of the journey, with long term forecasts showing a big storm approaching in a few days’ time. I made the decision to leave twelve hours early so as to try and avoid most of the storm.

Letting the crew know of the change, we prepared to leave Kiribati, since all the guests had returned by 2000 hours, and half an hour later we were on our way again, heading north towards Hawaii. Once we were on our way, Simon took over at the helm, and I kept the pontoons closed, to try and protect them from the heavy seas that we would be experiencing later the next day. I went to my cabin and managed to get s short sleep of just over two hours, before it was time for me to take over at the helm. The further into the Pacific Ocean we went, the rougher the seas became. By the time day broke, we were experiencing large waves, and a strong wind, so the yacht was being tossed around a lot.

When Finn appeared with a cup of tea for me, I noticed that the cup was only half full.

“Sorry, Skipper, it was hard to keep it all in the cup with this weather,” Finn said to me and I gave him a small pat on the back.

“It’s ok, Buddy, half a cup will be fine,” I said to him, and he headed back down stairs.

Over the next 3 days, we battled rough to moderate seas, and as I took over from Simon for my last shift for this journey, I was feeling relaxed knowing that we would be arriving in Honolulu the next day, and that we would be able to relax for some time.

It was just after dawn when we approached Hawaii Yacht Club in Waikiki, and I called Finn and Toby to come to the bridge.

“Wow, we are here already. That’s great,” Finn said, as they stepped into the bridge.

“Yes, so prepare for mooring the yacht in the harbour please lads,” I replied with a smile, and they headed outside to get the ropes prepared. Meanwhile Sara arrived with a cup of tea and a plate of toast for me. “Thanks Sara, have you had any thoughts on what you want to do in Hawaii?” I asked her.

“Yes, I think we will leave the yacht, with our thanks for a rewarding experience. I think Oscar and I will spend a couple of weeks exploring Hawaii, then fly back home to New Zealand,” Sara replied.

“Well, we will miss you and your wonderful cooking, and Oscar and your company as part of the crew. Make sure you collect your wages before you go,” I replied, a little disappointed that they were not staying with us for the next part of the journey.

Once we were moored at a yacht club jetty, the lads got busy preparing the dining table for the guest’s breakfast, and then headed down to the galley to help Sara with the preparations. I headed to my cabin to catch up on some sleep, leaving a note on the desk, asking to be woken up at 1000 hours. The guests should have left by then, and the crew would be cleaning the cabins and living areas. After just two hours sleep, I was woken by a knock on my cabin hatch.

“Come in, Simon,” I said still half asleep. I sat up in bed as Simon and a US customs officer entered.

“Sorry to wake you, Skipper, but Customs has asked for a full inspection and passport check right away. They have seen to the guests already, and they are leaving as we speak,” Simon said to me. I motioned the customs officer to enter.

“You seem to be a bit too young to be a skipper of such a big yacht. Can I have your yacht papers and passport please,” the officer said, and Simon grinning gave a short cough to get the officers attention, as he had in his hands the required documents. I just chuckled, as I stood up and headed to the bathroom. When I came out, the customs officer didn’t look too happy. “Why is it that this crewman has your passport and the yacht papers?” he asked me.

“That would be because he is my best friend and my first mate, and as such he is the only other person apart from me with access to the office safe,” I snapped back at him.

The officer looked at my passport again, then looked at me. “How long do you intend to be staying in the United Sates,” the officer asked me.

“Just a few days, to allow my crew some R & R, and to gather some more supplies for the next stage of our journey to Vancouver, Canada,” I replied.

Once the officer had left, I headed back to bed to try and get some more sleep, which I did manage to get. It was just before 1100 hours when I woke up and looked at the time. After a shower and change into fresh clothes, I headed over to the main deck where the lads were finishing washing down the deck with fresh water.

“Morning, Skipper. Sara and Oscar are waiting for you in the crew lounge. Your brothers are upstairs in the Jacuzzi,” Toby reported to me, and I smiled as I headed indoors and into the bridge, where I retrieved the envelope I had prepared yesterday, and headed downstairs.

“Are you really sure, you don’t want to stay with us?” I asked Sara a few moments later after entering the crew lounge.

“As much as we have enjoyed it, I think I need some mother and son time, and with these wages, we will be able to see plenty. Thank you for the opportunity to join the crew. It was challenging but very rewarding and I will never forget it,” Sara said to me.

“Thank you, Anton. It was great,” Oscar added as he wrapped his arms around me for a quick hug, and I chuckled.

“You’re welcome, both of you. Have a great holiday, and you never know, we may meet again sometime,” I said to them with some sadness.