Frontier - 6. FR Chapter 6

I helped Simon with the cleaning up of the galley, while Gramps, Isaac and Jasper relaxed upstairs on the fly bridge, where they were in deep discussion of some kind. When Simon and I arrived with a tray of tea and biscuits, they went very quiet. I looked at Simon who just shrugged his shoulders and put the tray down, while I commenced to pour the cups of tea.

“So, what’s with all the big secrets?” I asked once I had sat down, with my own cup of tea. Jasper chuckled and smiled.

“Not really a secret. More of a surprise,” Jasper said to us. “I have missed sailing so much, and with all this sailing I have done this week, I have made a dramatic decision. After 6 years in the police service, I am going to hand in my resignation, so I can take on sailing full time. Your Gramps and I have come up with an agreement, that I will skipper the catamaran, and help you with your training, while we remain here.

“You and Simon will be doing distance education from here, as the district high school, only goes as far as year ten, but they will be helping to monitor your education studies. Uncle Isaac and your Gramps will be returning to Isaac’s farm, and they will come up here every few months to check on us,” Jasper announced.

“Wow, that is awesome. It is a great place from what I can see,” Simon said to us, and I nodded my head in agreement.

“Now, Anton, I have with me your birth certificate, baptism certificate and immunisation card, so you have some proper identification. I also managed to get your school records from your previous school, so we can enrol you into distance education, which I will do, when I get back to the mainland. In the mean-time, how about we do some exploring of the Cocos Keeling Islands, over the next couple of days, and then maybe sail over to Christmas Island to explore there as well,” Gramps said to us.

“That sounds like a good plan, Marcus. Now what about the other thing we discussed?” Isaac said to my Gramps.

“Oh yeah, I am selling my house in the city, which has been empty since I have been away, and I am moving into Isaac’s place, to help him with his property. I have already had some interest in it, because of its location, but I am waiting to see if I can get an extra good price for it, so maybe we can upgrade from this tub,” Gramps said to me and I chuckled when he called the yacht a tub.

We relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon, and as the sun started to sink into the horizon, we headed to our cabins to get ready for a night out at dinner on the neighbouring yacht. An hour later, we arrived at the “Last Frontier” by dinghy, and we were warmly greeted by Mr and Mrs Kenworth.

“Please, call us Vic and Rita,” they insisted as I said hello to them. They commenced to give us a full tour of their yacht.

The trimaran yacht was laid out exactly like Jasper had said, but it looked very luxurious. I noticed that the owners were using the double crew cabin for their accommodation, and Rita saw the puzzled look on my face.

“Yes, we use the crew cabin, so we can have friends and guests use the other cabins. We only have two other crew members, who are having some time off on the island tonight, so I prepared dinner for us tonight,” Rita said with a smile.

“This is an awesome yacht you have here. I hope that someday, Gramps and I can have a wonderful yacht like this,” I said, as we made our way back up to the main deck. We sat down in the formal lounge area, where Vic served us some pre-dinner drinks.

As we sat down for dinner, Rita and Vic served out meals, before joining us at the table. It was a magnificent meal of mixed seafood, seared vegetables and rice. After desserts had been placed before us, Vic and Rita looked around the table before looking at each other.

“We have a reason for inviting you here tonight, to see the yacht and eat with us. You see, we were a little lost on what to do. Rita and I have to fly back home to Vancouver, in two-day’s time, and we had no idea what we would do about the yacht and crew,” Vic started to say to us.

“We have a proposal for you, that we hope you will accept. We would like you, Marcus and Anton, to lease our yacht for 6 months, for a bargain price of … say $33 Australian per month, as long as you can retain the current crew members. At the end of that time, we will sell it to you at a bargain price. We know you have your current yacht, and I’m sure that you would be able to sell it easily, if you take up this offer,” Rita said to us, who were sitting with stunned expressions on our faces.

Gramps was the first to come around, and he cleared his throat to speak. “Well on behalf of my grandson and I, we will happily accept your offer,” Gramps announced, which I was totally surprised and shocked at.

“Wow, this is awesome,” Simon said happily, and everyone laughed.

As we ate our deserts, Vic and Rita, gave a run-down of the yacht, which they had sailed across the Pacific, from Vancouver, to Hawaii, to Japan, Hong Kong and now here at the Cocos Keeling Islands.

They mentioned that their two crew members, Kirk and Leon, were partners. Both were 26 years old, and had crewed on yachts for over seven years each, and were multi skilled in cleaning, cooking and deck duties, plus they were fluent in Spanish and French. Their wages were $2500 US per month each, which was about $3270 Australian. Gramps wasn’t too happy about paying that large an amount of money for wages, when we would be berthed in the Cocos Islands most of the time.

Rita suggested that we could do return trips to Christmas Island for paying guests to help cover the costs of wages, with fees of $1200 per night for the master cabin, and $1000 per night each, for the other guest cabins. Gramps said that would be a good solution. Vic suggested that we move onto Last Frontier in the morning, and then we could all go out for a day’s sailing, so we could get the feel of the yacht, and get to know the crew.

Gramps agreed to this, and after we had finished dinner, we thanked Vic and Rita for a wonderful dinner and for their incredible offer. We made our way back to our yacht. As soon as we arrived on board our yacht, Gramps suggested that everyone pack all of their bags ready for the move in the morning, and crate up all the foods, dry, refrigerated or frozen, so it was ready to be shifted over. It was well after midnight, before everyone collapsed on their beds, with Isaac and Gramps taking up two guest cabins.

Before leaving for his cabin, Simon asked me which cabin he should move into on the new yacht, and I suggested that we wait till we go on board in the morning, before we decide. The next morning, I took a quick shower, quickly dressed and headed into the saloon, where Simon was already preparing breakfast for us. Isaac and Gramps appeared soon after.

“Good morning, all. Are we ready for the start of a new adventure?” Gramps said with a big smile.

“I can hardly wait,” I responded.

“Me too,” Simon added.

After we had all eaten, and helped Simon to clean up, we moved all of our luggage, and other belongings to just outside the saloon. While we were doing this the Last Frontier moved alongside our yacht to make transferring everything a lot easier.

Once secured together, Vi and Rita greeted us, and introduced the two crew members, Kirk and Leon, who were immaculately groomed and dressed in uniforms of white shorts and light blue shirts, with dark blue strips over the right shoulder, and down to the left hip. Rita announced to us, that they had already transferred all of their belongings to a hotel on the island, so the yacht was ready for us to move in right away. While the two crew members, Simon and Jasper, with Isaac supervising, were busy with transferring all of the luggage and all perishable foods to the larger yacht. Gramps asked me to follow him inside to the skipper’s office of the new yacht.

Once we were in the office and the door was closed, Gramps sat down on the lounge suite, and I sat next to him.

“Anton, I have had additional talks with Vic and Rita, and I have said to them that once my home in the city and the yacht are sold, I would want to purchase this new yacht, and they are very agreeable to this. So as of today, you and I are currently the leasees of this yacht, until the final sale has been completed. Then we will be the owners.

“Since I will be on the mainland, you will be in-charge of the management of the yacht, but Jasper will be in-charge of operations of the yacht when at sea,” Gramps said to me. I nodded my head in understanding. “Now, as manager of the yacht, how do you want to arrange the crew accommodations?” Gramps said to me with a smile. I suggested that we go and look at the cabins again, so we could decide together.

After a quick look, I suggested that Simon have the pontoon double cabin, with Kirk and Leon having the cabin next to his. Jasper as skipper could have the double crew cabin, and I would have the forward double pontoon cabin. This would leave the master guest cabin, a queen, two double and a twin guest cabins available for guests. Gramps agreed with my suggestions, as we headed back up to the main deck, where we could hear Kirk, Leon and Simon were busy in the galley area below. Jasper and Isaac were sitting in the formal lounge area chatting when we arrived.

“Jasper, as skipper, you have the double crew cabin, Simon will have the aft pontoon crew cabin, Kirk and Leon, you can have a pontoon double cabin and I will be in the forward pontoon cabin,” I announced to them.

“Good. I will start moving in. We have taken Rita and Vic to shore. They will be back for a farewell lunch meal later,” Isaac announced, just as the three boys appeared.

“Anton, we have had a chat, and Kirk and Leon have agreed for me to be head cook, and they will take it in turns being breakfast cook,” Simon announced to me.

“That fine by me. I will be 1^st mate anyway, so when not on the bridge, I am free to help where needed,” I replied.

I turned to Jasper, “Skipper, can we do a trial run to Christmas Island and back please? Let me know when you have it all calculated,” I said to him.

Jasper smiled and headed to the office, to start planning the trip. I mentioned to the crew the changes of accommodation, and Kirk and Leon were happy to have a double bed instead of twin singles.

“Simon, can you help me with planning to get a website started so we can promote our Indian Ocean Island sail cruises please? While you go and get settled into your cabin, I will just go and grab my laptop, so we can get started.”

“We can start preparations for lunch if you like?” Leon suggested.

“Yes please, guys,” Simon said as he went to grab his belongings.

I went into the office, where Jasper was busy studying the charts for the area.

“Any problems?” I asked him as I walked in.

“None that I can see. It will take 1 day and about 18 hours to complete the one-way journey. I was just putting together a plan. We could do a 6-day sail cruise from here to Christmas Island and return. Leaving at 1500 hours, we would arrive at 0900 hours on the third day, and if we left Christmas Island on day five at 1800 hours, we would be back here at 1200 hours on day seven, with a 2 days and 6 hour stopover at Christmas Island,” Jasper suggested.

“That sounds perfect. When you get a chance, can you see if you can come up with an overnight sail cruise just around these islands,” I said to Jasper.

“Yep, already thought of that,” Jasper said with a smile.

After lunch with Vic and Rita, Leon and Kirk said their sad farewell to their former employers, and ferried them, plus Isaac and Gramps back to West Island by dinghy. While they were away, Jasper moved the larger yacht away from the Frontier, and set anchor about 50 metres away. Simon and I were in the study working on a new website, “Indian Ocean Sail Cruises”.

When Kirk and Leon arrived back, I had them take me out on the dingy, and I took some photos of the outside of the yacht, before returning to the yacht, where I began taking photos of the outdoor and indoor living areas of the yacht, plus of the master and double guest cabins. Once I had done this, I returned to the office, where Simon uploaded the photos and added them to the now nearly completed website. I worked out that we needed at least two sailing cruises per month, with three cabins occupied, to cover the now huge wages bill. 1 ½ hours before Jasper was ready to set sail for Christmas Island, I called a crew meeting in the formal lounge.

“I have just finished working out details regarding wages, Kirk and Leon. I am increasing wages a little, to $3,500 Australian each. That’s an increase of $250.

We will be based here at Direction Island, and Jasper has put together two sail cruises. The first is 6 nights to Christmas Island and back, and the second is an overnight around these islands. I hope that we will be getting enough guests to cover everyone’s wages,” I said as I handed Simon and Jasper an envelope each, with their names on it.

“That’s very generous of you. Are you sure that you can afford it?” Jasper asked me. I nodded my head yes as I watched Simon open his envelope, and see the shocked expression on his face, which made me chuckle.

“If you have any questions, you can ask me later in private,” I said to Simon and Jasper.

“Ok, we set sail for Christmas Island at 1500 hours, so let’s get ready. Simon, can you join me? We are going to West Island store to get whatever we need for this journey,” I announced.

Kirk and Leon sprang into action, to get the dinghy lowered into the water for us, and we were soon on our way. When my mobile rang not long after, I handed it to Simon to answer, as I was driving the dinghy. All Simon said was “OK” before he ended the call.

“That was Jasper. He is going to bring the yacht around to the West Island Village, as it will be a lot quicker, and so he asked us to stop, so he can pick us up”.

Once we were back on board, I went up to the fly bridge to talk to Jasper, while the dinghy was secured.

“It was going to take you about 30 minutes to get there, plus another ten minutes to walk. It will be faster if we sail around. Then we can leave directly from the village. She is great to sail, especially with the pontoons out,” Jasper explained to me when I arrived.

Once we arrived just off shore from the village, the dinghy was lowered, and once again, Simon and I headed off. We beached the dinghy close to the shops. Grabbing two shopping trolleys, I followed Simon, as he went down each aisle, grabbing what we needed, and with two near full trolleys we made our way to the checkout. As we stood in line waiting to be served a voice from behind spoke.

“Excuse me, young man, are you a crew member for that magnificent yacht just off shore?” the lady said. I could tell that she was from the USA from her Texan accent.

“Yes, Ma’am, I am 1^st Mate Anton Hamilton and this is chief cook Simon Adamson,” I responded with a smile.

“Ah good. We just arrived on the island yesterday, and were pleased to see your yacht mast, as we came in to land. Would we be able to do a charter? How much will it cost?” the lady said, without introducing herself, which I thought was a bit rude.

“Yes, ma’am, we are available for charter. We are currently preparing to do a 6-day round trip to Christmas Island, with a two day stop over on Christmas Island, leaving in about 45 minutes,” I explained.

“That sounds perfect, young man. If you can delay for an hour, we would like to go with you to Christmas Island. My name is Charles Worthington, and this is my wife Elizabeth, from Dallas, Texas. Now how much is it for this 6-night cruise?” the gentleman beside the lady said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. We have a master cabin for $1,200 per night, queen cabin for $1,000 per night, two double cabins for $900 each and a twin cabin for $800 per night. That’s Australian currency,” I replied with a smile, as Simon moved up and started unloading the contents of the trolley onto the counter.

“That sounds fine by us. We would like to book three cabins. We will take the master cabin, our friends – Michael and Julia Melon will take one double, and Emanuel and Jacquelin Carlton will take the other double cabin,” Mr Worthington said.

I noticed Simon was talking on his phone, no doubt warning Jasper of our first charter.

“Is there any dietary requirements or allergies, that we need to know?” I asked, adding, “And we will require 25% at the start of the charter.”

“No, whatever you provide will be fine. We will have the money for you when we arrive on board. We should forget about this shopping and go and get the others and ourselves organised. See you in an hour then,” Mrs Worthington said, and the couple dashed out of the shop.

“Wow, how’s that for a surprise. I’ve spoken to Jasper and told him about our guests. The guys are getting the cabins spruced up, and they have champagne cooling in the fridge, ready for their arrival,” Simon said to me as he finished unloading the second trolley.