by DB Daglish
As the first light of dawn appeared, the wind finally began to ease. A thick cloud hung over the ocean and finally a thick fog enveloped them as the wind finally dropped off to five knots. Wrapping up warmly they ventured outside to survey the damage. The dinghy was gone and the rear sail was totally shredded; the remnants dragging in the sea. This had acted as a sea anchor unbeknown to them, assisting in their survival. Ricki now cut it loose; allowing the vessel to lurch forward a little. A quick look at the compass revealed they had been heading north rather than northwest, and he dropped the sail to quarter and set the direction west while they dropped some lines and caught an excellent fish to cook and eat. It was their first decent meal in four days and they began to revive in their spirits, as their bellies became full again.
“We are only seven days into this voyage, Faith. We might be three days away from the coast or one. I don’t know where we are. With this fog, I’m not even keen on daytime sailing.”
“Do what you think best,” was her only reply as she patted his shoulder and went below.
It took two days for the fog to clear and Faith woke at night to a clear and star filled sky. One could see forever out here, even the odd clump of luminous seas creatures crowded around the yacht from time to time; a very eerie sight indeed. Allowing Ricki to sleep, as he had done the most work on this voyage, she sat on deck waiting for the sun to rise at starboard. But to her surprise the soft red glow finally appeared at the bow and concerned she woke Ricki up.
“Dang,” he said examining the fixed compass. “This thing is not working correctly. We could be anywhere!”
“If the sun is over our bow then that’s east so if we turn around and have the sun at our stern then we will be heading west, that is the direction we should be heading.”
“But Faith, we don’t know how far north we sailed?” he said. “If we didn’t get far enough north and sailed west we could pass the land of Oz completely.”
“But it’s warmer here. The air feels different so we can’t be south of where we planned,” she declared.
He thought that one through for a while.
“True, unless we have a warm front and we are south of Tasmania or something. Dang – this is where we need you…” he stood on the bow and shouted into the breaking dawn, “Where are you Tia?”
Feeling discouraged he sat down, watching the sky become brighter, the rays of orange and red reaching out into the darkness before it and causing it to flee and allowing some warmth to fall upon their faces.
“Follow the sun!”
“What?” Faith asked.
“Follow the sun. We need to follow the sun!”
“Why?”
“I just know. It’s as if an answer came to me. We need to follow the sun!” he insisted.
“So we sail east?”
“No, it’s rising in the east so which way is it going?” he asked.
“West I suppose.”
“Exactly, so we sail west. Now it’s closer to winter, so it will be lower and as long as it’s always off center above us on starboard and we are heading the direction it sets at night and then use the moon the same way…”
“You sure?”
“I am!”
“How do you know?”
“I just do,” he said. “Now let’s get the spare sail on this rear mast, whatever it’s called, and get cracking. I want to set my feet on land more than I ever have at this point.”
Dismantling the remnants of the old sail, they threw them overboard, rigging and hoisting a fresh one before raising the mainsail and beginning their journey to what hopefully would bring them what the sought – Sydney, Gail and hopefully their friends; if in fact they survived.
‘At least six will have’, he thought to himself, ‘At least six!’
They were sailing for at least four hours when Faith appeared from below with a huge smile on her face.
“You look happy?”
“I am and you will be too!”
“Why’s that?”
“Because of this!” and she took her hand from behind her back to reveal a large handheld compass.
“Yes!” he yelled, “Where on earth did you find that?”
“There is a framed picture of a sunset down in the cabin fixed to the wall.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen it.”
“Ever looked in the small cupboard above it?”
He shook his head as he began to smile.
“And it was in there and you wouldn’t have looked if it weren’t for the picture…”
“And I wouldn’t have taken notice of the picture if it were not for your comment about following the sun!” she interrupted him.
“Tia, you beauty,” he yelled out in triumph, pumping his fist in the air. “We are coming home girl!”
The mood on the ketch picked up considerably now they knew the direction was accurate; beginning to enjoy the voyage for the first time in ten days.
‘If they had been sailing straight they would be on land by this time,’ he was thinking, when some sea birds of a different kind than had been around in recent days flew east and as he lifted his eyes he could see the faint outline of some hills in the distance. As they drew nearer the whole horizon began to fill with land and it wasn’t long before he could see tall buildings behind the coastal areas.
“Wow! I think this is Sydney?” he exclaimed.
In fact, they had hit the coast just eight kilometers down from the harbor entrance. From here they could see the Sydney Tower in the distance and as the sun began to set in the hills, they passed the channel markers and into the first bay on the right-hand side; dropping anchor where they could see the blackened shells of where the fire had occurred some months before.
“Should we not let them know we are here?” Faith asked.
‘No, let's surprise them, tomorrow,” he chuckled and fell face-first onto his bunk for a well earned sleep without the constant rocking.
Chapter 18
Faith was the first awake, coming out on deck to see someone standing on the rocks above where they were anchored. She recognized him instantly.
“Hello Jake.”
“Hi. Where are the rest of you guys?”
“They should be here already?”
Jake shook his head.
“No one’s been back since you left - till now! I saw you last evening so rowed across last night and waited till I saw who was onboard this morning. I didn’t recognize the boat.”
“Really. It has been here before. It’s the one we brought back from the island.
“Looks a bit beaten up!”
“Yes, well we’ve been in a storm and sailed all the way from the Chatham Islands.”
“Where’s that?”
“The other side of New Zealand.”
“Oh, that way?” he said, as he pointed south.
“Yes Jake. But back to my first question…no hang on, where did you row from?”
He pointed across the harbor to where a thin wisp of smoke drifted into the morning air.
“We live there now.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see. I’ll bring the dinghy around and be with you shortly,” and he ran off into the bush.
At that moment Ricki appeared from below deck.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked, a little confused that no one else was in sight.
“You see soon enough. Sleep well?”
“Yeah. Great. I really needed it. That voyage was something epic! I can’t wait to tell Tia!”
“You can’t!”
“Why not?”
“She’s not here Ricki.”
“Well where else would they be?”
“I don’t know?” she said as she raised her hands in the air.
“Well, how do you know she’s not here?”
She heard a particular sound and raised her finger in the air for Ricki to wait and then pointed to the rocks at the point where a dingy now appeared, being rowed by a single person.
&nb
sp; “That’s how I know,” she said as Jake appeared in a three meter dinghy. They waited in silence until he reached the transom and they hoisted him aboard and tied the dingy to the grab rail.
“So why only two of you. Is that all that survived?” he asked.
“I hope not?” Faith replied. “Two boats were infected; we hope the other two weren’t. Oh, Ricki, what if they are all dead?”
“I heard a voice...it’s why we are here Faith! Have some faith…Faith!” he said, chuckling at his own joke.
“Yes, I know you thought you heard Tia, but what if she’s dead and it was her spirit or something, if you believe in that sort of thing?”
“Actually, I do,” Ricki said, and he sighed. “And you may be right. Damn it! I was so hoping more would make it.” He then looked toward Jake. “There’s what…five of you here?”
“Seven. Two more from elsewhere in Sydney arrived after you left. Is Michael coming back?”
“Willo?” asked Ricki.
“Yes.”
“We don’t know where they all are mate. We found three more people immune to the recent outbreak, two are totally immune but they were with some of our friends after we separated in New Zealand.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Their two boats showed signs of the sickness and ours didn’t. We think they sailed of to die, but four of them at least won’t die and probably Tia and Ho are ok as well. We thought that they’d have come back, but they might have got caught in the same storm we encountered a few days back. They might have all drowned for all we know?”
Jake dropped his head; revealing his sadness. Obviously he was very fond of Willo.
“Hey, cheer up mate. They could be all having fun on an island somewhere for all I know.”
He looked at Faith knowing word of a drowning did not go down so well. She pointed across the harbor.
“Yeah, good idea. Hey Jake. How about you take us over to your new home and show us around.”
He nodded and Ricki hoisted a sail while Faith winched the anchor aboard. Sailing quietly across to the other side, they entered a bay, tying up at their wharf to be greeted by six people, two of whom were new and after being introduced, they were led up the hill to what was a old modified army barracks now tuned into a business park.
It kept them all together while still having their own private spaces. Boardwalks connected all the buildings together. Nearby were gardens, already broken in and planted. They had spent much time transferring plants and livestock to this location. It was as much to get away from the previous scenes of death as any other purpose. Besides, this location was more elevated, and therefore had a clearer view of the harbor entrance.
“You guys have been busy!”
“Well Ricki, it kept our minds off things. We were hoping you would all return and we found a place that had room for you all, but…”
“Don’t worry Gail,” he said touching her arm. “We’ll see what happens.” It was then the penny dropped and he took Gail aside. “You like Willo don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said. “We weren’t an item or anything, but I did like him a lot.”
“If he gets back, you need to know something…”
“He’s hooked up with someone else hasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
“No one you know. Remember we said earlier we found three more survivors?”
“Oh!”
“Yeah. Gloria is from Melbourne - in fact all three are. They are not going to die from the outbreak, we know that. But if all the others die, they’ll have to get here all by themselves.”
“And Tia and Ho. Did the blood transfusion work?”
“Well, they showed no signs of it when we left them. Mind you none of the others on those yachts did either, so there is hope Gail. There is still hope!”
“Yachts!” a call went up from down the road as Jake came rushing back from the tower. “There are…two yachts coming…in the entrance,” he said trying to catch his breath.
Ricki was already running and in five minutes was halfway up the tower. But he didn’t need to go any further for he recognized the Southern Spirit. The second yacht was not one he was familiar with and he wondered what had happened to the Taranaki. ‘Maybe they didn’t make it’? he thought to himself as swung from one arm looking out into the harbor. By now others were running along the road.
“How do we signal them, a flag, a fire? What have you got?” he yelled down at the others.
“Siren!”
“You’ve got a siren?”
“We have the old wind up shark siren from the surf club at Manly. And we have a flag in this building here,” and they darted inside, pulling it out while another rushed a flag up the tower to Ricki. As Mark, one of the new ones brought it up the ladder, Ricki asked to him to go to the top and hold it out so the breeze could catch it. Swinging aside so Mark could climb past him, Ricki quickly climbed down.
Slowly a whir and rattle of the siren began to lift and pierce the air until the wailing sound filled the outer harbor area. From the point they could see the occupants of the vessels looking around for the source of the sound, finally pointing to the headland where Mark was frantically waving the flag.
“They’ve seen us,” he called down moments before the lead yacht tacked to port and now moved southwest.
“When they get close enough point them to the wharf,” Gail called.
“No - don’t!” Ricki interjected. “Have them come around this side. I have an idea…” and giving instructions to Gail he rushed back to the buildings, grabbed Faith and ran down to the wharf, selecting a long boat they used for fishing and tossing some oars inside.
“Get in.”
“What are we doing?” Faith asked.
“They don’t know we are here!”
“Oh, ok. So we row around and met them?”
“If you were them what would be something they would not expect to see…” and his eyebrows lifted waiting for her response.
She laughed.
“Yes, us rowing around the point to meet them!”
“Exactly. It’s going to be hard enough seeing the schooner and just the two of us. Let’s give them something to laugh at first.”
As the two vessels came alongside the point they looked up to the top of the cliffs, seeing the few they knew from the Manly area. Gail stood there enthusiastically waving at them and then pointing to the other side of the peninsula.
“I can see six up there,” Willo said. “But two of them I do not recognize.”
“Maybe they found some more then?” Chris surmised.
He waved at Tia at the helm of the Gloria, motioning for her to follow, and they tacked away again and proceeded to follow Gail’s directions. Lowering the sails to the minimum, they slowly moved some distance off from the cliffs to ensure there were no hidden rocks until two people were spotted bobbing up and down on the gentle swell in a small boat. Both had items of clothing draped over their heads in a partial disguise.
“They’ll recognize us!”
“No they won’t, they aren’t expecting us to be here. Shhh.”
As the lead yacht pulled up alongside, Ricki called out without raising his head.
“Ya took ya bloody time getting here mate!” a voice spoke from the dingy.
“Sorry?” Chris called from the front of the boat. He seemed a little confused at the gruff comment. Suddenly a cry went up from the helm.
“Ricki!”
Geo had recognized the tattoo on Ricki’s arm, and then his voice, and he jumped excitedly and danced around, slipping briefly, tripping over a winch and falling face first into the cool water of the harbor. Quickly Nim threw a rope overboard, but he failed to see it. Those upon the Gloria were watching, and steered toward Geo and caught his arm, hoisting him aboard. By this time both Faith and Ricki had thrown a rope and were being pulled toward the ketch.
There was a brief and ecstatic reunion, and Tia watched as Fa
ith climbed back in the dingy and was allowed to drift back to her yacht. She climbed aboard and hugged everyone, the longest hugs reserved for Dirk and Rosa.
“We thought you had died?” Rosa said. “We thought we’d never see you again?”
“Well, here I am girl. Back from the dead!”
“What are you doing out here?” asked Bryce.
“Waiting for you guys, we saw you enter the harbor and thought we’d surprise you.”
“Well you have. Where are the rest of the guys?”
A look of sadness crossed her face.
“I’ll tell you the story when we get ashore.”
But Bryce already knew; her face told the whole story.
“If there are only two of you, how did you get back?” Tia asked; for she had come to the same conclusion. For just two to sail all that way in such a large schooner, and knowing Ricki was not an open ocean sailor, seemed rather extraordinary to her.
“Well, there is a story to that one too. But I’ll let Ricki tell you about that!”
Aboard the ketch, Ricki was pumped with questions but he refused to elaborate on what had occurred. He did mention the fact they nearly got lost after the storm and he looked back toward Tia briefly. By now they were in view the schooner. As each one of them caught sight of it they fell silent. Firstly they had thought that those waiting on the wharf were their own, but quickly realizing those there were from the new community, a deep sadness enveloped them. Without a word they pulled up and threw lines to those above, tying up firmly before disembarking.
An informal yet polite greeting waited them, but there was little excitement for they had just been reminded that seven of their number would never been seen again. Tia was the last to leave the yacht, and as those gathered began to move off, she noticed Ricki waiting for her.