Amanda May

Object Post 140: Amanda May from Shakedown

Amanda May

From Shakedown

My sib Robert had this boat, Amanda May   

~~~~~

Amanda May belonged to Robert, elder brother of Sam Cool. Robert, as whom Sam referred to as The Rabbit, didn’t use the boat much.

The Rabbit doesn't like sailing much, but he got Amanda May to impress a girl he was going with at the time.

The Rabbit was real lucky, as usual, and got Amanda May cheap. He kept her tied up in Summer Inlet, where the whole bay's wall-to-wall carpeted with boats.

… Now, The Rabbit used to leave poor old Amanda May tied up there for weeks sometimes, and never go near her, so I'd got in the habit of spending time with her myself. Me and Gaz used to take Amanda May out a bit and go swimming off the deck, or go up the coast to catch the surf. The Rabbit never knew. We never did any harm, because I could handle Amanda May better than The Rabbit anyway. I knew Gaz wouldn't dob, because he and The Rabbit never said two words to each other. Sort of hate at first sight.

Amanda May, referred to in a newspaper article as

…a small sail-equipped cabin cruiser is missing from its mooring in Summer Inlet…

played a major part in a shakedown that would have repercussions clear through to 2200. The shakedown, orchestrated by teenager Sam Cool, had various parts to it, but the first act, so to speak, was called Operation Bye-Bye Amanda May. To achieve this, Sam first staged a drifting, then hid Amanda May in a mangrove inlet, and finally used her to go to a place Sam called Miracle Reef.

Sam, for nefarious reasons connected with the shakedown, ripped Amanda May’s sails and crippled the engine, just in case someone discovered the boat before Sam was ready.

Eventually, Cyclone Patrick blew up, and…

…If Amanda May had only floated off, I might've caught her on my board, (if the waves had been smaller) but I knew, really, there was no hope. Not after the noise she made crunching on the rocky reef. I knew I had heard her die.

 By morning, she was breaking up, and the sea was still too high for me to risk going out on my board. Not that it would have done any good if I had. There was nothing left of Amanda May but bits of flotsam, and because they were fibreglass bits, they weren't even any good for lighting a fire.

Now stranded for real, Sam tried to make a raft from bits of the wrecked boat. This was unsuccessful. The next effort was to send out messages in bottles. Finally, Sam did escape Miracle Reef, in part due to Amanda May, whose wreckage had been found in the wake of Cyclone Patrick. Robert decided Sam must be alive and a combination of his rescue effort and Sam’s own luck brought Sam safely back—for a while.