Chapter 8: Semi-Famous

Cape May, New Jersey
June 1985

Kalliste's bow swung slowly, inexorably to port under the pressure of her reversed port engine until the stern was precisely lined up in the slot between the forty foot yacht to starboard and the dock to her port side. Engaging reverse on the starboard engine Tony expertly guided her into the slip, bringing the engines to full stop with a foot clearance aft and port and the fifty-five foot craft completely motionless. It was a feat of seamanship that belied the age of her captain.

"Captain Tony!" cried Tina from the deck.

"Yeah Tina," Tony replied as he began the task of turning on the generator and shutting down the engines.

"You're still the best! There's a reason we let you be captain you know!"

It was something Tina did every time Tony pulled off a particularly difficult maneuver, usually while docking or negotiating the tight channels near home. To Tony it wasn't even difficult. Kalliste was an extension of him. It was second nature.

"Thanks sis. You need engines anymore or can we tie off as is?"

"Nope, we're fine, shut 'em down when ready."

Tony allowed the engines to idle another few seconds to allow the oil to cool the turbochargers before shutting them down.

Kyle and Chrissie were on hand when Kalliste docked. Kyle moved to receive a line from Tina amidships while two dockhands helped Jerry and Dewayne fore and aft. Together they got Kalliste securely moored. Tony, working in the cockpit, didn't realize that there were two more welcomers waiting.

"Captain Tony?" came a small voice from behind him. Tony turned in time to catch a small blur slamming into him.

"Anita!" he said hugging her tightly. The shy eleven-year-old hadn't done more than wave goodbye to him two nights earlier when she had left Kalliste after her rescue. Tony had pretty much forcefully pulled her from the capsized fishing boat. It was a frightening experience for her and he thought she would probably always be somewhat afraid of him. He certainly had no idea the family even knew where they were headed, though it may have been discussed below.

Looking up to the rear of the cockpit and seeing a smirk on Tina's face he thought he might just know where the information came from. "Hi Anita!" Rebecca said, coming up from below. "Glad you could make it." Anita immediately let go of Tony and went to hug Rebecca. Tony reassessed just where the information leak was while he continued his shut down of the yacht's electronics.

"But we couldn't impose like that," Jan Breeland, Anita's mother, insisted.

"Don't be silly," Tina countered. "You're on vacation. You and your husband don't want to spend it with a bunch of teenagers. Anita is almost twelve, believe me she does.We have plenty of room and we'd love to have her. We'll have a blast and it's not imposing at all." It was several hours after Kalliste docked and Tina and Anita's mother, Jan, were having a quiet conversation at the galley table forward of the salon. Anita had told Tina that she really wished she could spend the rest of her family's two week vacation with the teens.

"But you're just teenagers!"

"And how old was the last babysitter you hired for Anita?"

"Well, yeah, I get the point Tina."

"Look, you can call my mom if you want, but she already let me and Tony get on a boat and sail twelve hundred miles and so did the other parents so you already know what you're gonna hear."

"But there are already eight of you, that's pretty crowded even for a boat this size."

"Nope, we have a condo here at the marina too. Four of us are staying there. It's just me, Tony, Rebecca, and Jerry staying on board. We have plenty of room. Besides she plays the flute and she did say she brought it along so she could practice, I'll teach her."

"Teach her?"

"Jan we are all musicians. We're here for the Gilchrist Youth Music Festival. It's the most prestigious festival of its kind in the world. You don't get invited to this thing unless you're one of the top one percent of musicians under the age of 18 nationally. I'm pretty sure there are only half a dozen here under the age of sixteen. I'm one and Rebecca's another. Yes, we can teach her."

"Oh, I didn't know that. All of you kids?"

"Well Gwen and Chrissie are sound technicians, and very good ones at that, the rest of us, yeah. That's why we were on our way here in the first place. Look everyone has already fallen in love with Anita. We want her to stay with us, OK?"

"OK, I guess, you say we can call you here on the boat?"

"Yes, it's all hooked up," Tina pointed to the phone on the other side of the Salon. "Just call the marina and ask for Kalliste and they'll put you through."

"OK, OK she can stay with you. I'll have Charlie bring her things when he comes to pick us up."

"Good, she'll have a blast with us and I bet you and Charlie can have a good time as well."

Jan Breeland blushed at the thought of not having anyone else but Charlie in the hotel room for the next week or more.

The next morning Anita found Tony in the engine room beneath the salon. "Tony, whatcha doing down here?"

"Hey Anita, I'm just checking things out. We have to keep up with maintenance and all." The space was fully the size of the salon though only four feet high. It contained the engines, the generator, and various other components like the air conditioning and heating, hot water heater and the main electrical panel.

"Can I help?"

"Sure, if you don't mind getting dirty."

Anita was, predictably, very little help at all, but she tried and listened attentively to Tony while he showed her how to inspect all of the components, check fluid levels in the engines and transmissions, and generally clean up the engine room after a long journey. He would repeat the entire written checklist before they left again. It was good to have company doing what was normally a solitary chore.

"Tony, have you seen Anita, she's not in bed and I can't find her," Tony heard from the engine room hatch. Anita was wiping down the electrical panel and couldn't be seen from the hatch.

"You mean my new engineering mate first class? Yep she's right here."

Tina poked her head inside the engine room and looked around. "Anita! You're filthy!"

Anita giggled. "Well I offered to help and Tony did say I'd get dirty."

"Well Rebecca and I are making breakfast. You two need to clean up before you eat."

"No problem, we're pretty much done here now," Tony said

The two emerged from the galley side engine room hatch to wash the worst of the grime off their hands. "And just what were you two doing down there?" Rebecca asked suggestively.

"A gentleman never tells," Tony answered. Then looking down at his greasy hands and stained T-shirt he continued in a stage whisper, "but it was very, very dirty."

All three girls broke up laughing at that. Tony showed Anita to the shower across from the guest cabin and went to clean up on his own.

In half an hour all five were having a big breakfast and discussing their various agendas for the day. The girls planned a shopping trip for groceries though Tony was sure it wouldn't stop there. Along the way they would stop at the Gilchrist facility that was centered around a small state park. Tony and the guys were going to spend the morning doing various chores on the boat including a complete fresh water wash down.

As the guys were finishing a man in a white golf shirt with the marina's logo walked up. "Hello," he said. "I'm looking for Tony Smith".

"I'm Tony sir, what can I do for you?" Tony replied. "Come on aboard, we were just finishing."

The man introduced himself as Ned Stevens, the operations manager for the marina. "Tony I've had six different reporters come by in the last day looking for either you or this amazing boat of yours. A '57 Constellation isn't she?"

"Yes sir, she's a '57," Tony said smiling. The man knew his boats.

"Finest one I've ever seen son, do you work on her yourself."

"Mostly, she had a survey and refit over the winter. I've done most of the work since granddaddy died a few years ago."

"Well I'd love to talk about it with you when you get a chance. We've got some pretty expensive boats here but this old lady is probably the finest of the bunch. Anyway, apparently you ran across some folks in trouble on the way here and it's all the talk. I'm not sure how but these reporters figured out you were coming here. Now we know our customers value their privacy so we aren't about to let them out to the docks, but if there's anything you can do to help me make them go away I'd appreciate it."

Tony sighed. "I thought we escaped them at the Coast Guard station. I'm not sure how they tracked us here, though the family we pulled out might have talked to the press. I don't think we asked them not to."

"I think that was it. There was an article in yesterday's paper about it. I recognized the name of your boat from our reservations. We don't get many this size so it stuck in my head."

Tony thought for a minute. "I'll tell you what; have them come back at two o'clock. Tell them I'll come up to the office. I've got some work to do yet this morning before we're fully settled in. Once I'm done talking to them just be prepared to tell them all to leave or face trespassing charges. Does that sound fair?"

"Fair enough for me, like I said our customers deserve their privacy. I'll go run them off for now." The two shook hands and Ned departed.

Tony and Anita made a phone call to her parents asking them to please not talk to the press for the sake of the teen's privacy. Charlie assured them that they would not and he would contact his brother and ask him not to as well.

While the girls shopped the guys washed and polished Kalliste until she was once again gleaming. By two PM she was ship-shape inside and out and Tony went to face the reporters.

Somehow "say a few words" turned into a press conference. There were a dozen people, two of them with video cameras complete with blinding lights. Tony stayed in Ned's office until he distributed a document to all of the reporters. The document had been faxed to the marina by Carol Smith on her law firm's letterhead. It stated rather succinctly that a statement would be given by her son and that only his name and the name of Kalliste could be used. No images other than those approved by Tony could be used and any further inquiries after the statement was made must be made through her office or be considered harassment of a minor child. As Ned returned the camera lights were being shut off.

When that was done Tony went and stood in front of the assembled reporters and began speaking. "Good afternoon, my name is Tony Smith. I'm the captain of the Kalliste. I'm sure you'll research it, but yes that is perfectly legal. I have all licenses and certifications necessary to operate the vessel even for commercial purposes though she is currently being used for personal business.

"Kalliste is a fifty-five foot Chris Craft Constellation built in 1957. Her home port is Savannah, Ga. I'll save you that bit of research as well. I am also the registered owner of the vessel and yes, that's legal too. As to how a teenager comes to own such a vessel I'll say frankly it's none of your business and, in fact, none of the public's business who you are charged to serve.

"I learned sailing at my grandfather's knee. My first memories of him are on the deck of Kalliste. As a matter of fact to this day most of my memories of him involve our sailing to someplace or another on that boat. It is not unrealistic to say that even at my age I have been sailing, and specifically sailing Kalliste, for more than twelve years."

Tony picked up a stack of photocopied papers. "Kalliste has undergone thirteen Coast Guard safety inspections in the last 18 months. Almost every time she leaves the dock the Coast Guard wants to inspect her. While I understand the apprehension that a large vessel being crewed by teenagers may give the local Coast Guard in Savannah, the fact is she is quite probably the finest example of a fifties era wooden motor yacht in existence. They hail us and ask us if we want a 'courtesy inspection' and we give them the grand tour. It pretty much happens whenever a new officer or petty officer rotates through the base. That being said, we have an excellent rapport with the US Coast Guard.

"Now all that is said to prove only one thing. While the age of myself and my crew may be low, we are professional when we are on the water. I place the safety of my crew and passengers at the very forefront in all decisions. I do that because those people are invariably either my family or my dear friends. Now that doesn't mean half of you aren't still going to start your stories with 'what are those kids doing out there anyway'. Now you know why we don't want to talk to you at all. I'll place the professionalism and seamanship of myself and my crew up against that of any other vessel, with any crew, of any age, at any time. You will ask my parents why I would be allowed to take on this voyage and the answer is that they already know what I just told you.

"There are many inviolable rules that all mariners follow. You follow them whether you own a rowboat or an ocean liner. First among them is aid to mariners in distress. It is not something you do when convenient, when your schedule permits, or when you please. When you are aware of a fellow mariner who needs assistance you move as swiftly as possible to render aid. Anyone who embarks on any maritime expedition understands the concept. It is, quite simply, the first law of the sea.