Pacific Swift

How could she have known?

"This project will be a story, a story about......"

My teacher's worlds flatten down in my head. As my teacher spoke the sound of ringing moved through my ears when the realization sat down. Throughout the whole time of my life, I knew almost nothing about my family. It was a weird shiver that went down my spine giving uneasy butterflies in my stomach, what a weird thing to only realize now but the happy thrill of making a story was in the back of my mind. 'I can make stories' I thought. Actually, I had multiple stories in my notes at this second all of them about weird OC's or what fancy people call original characters, but somehow none of them were about real people.

"Huh, something new" I was intrigued.

"Amy! Come up! I have something for you!"

My dad yelled from the kitchen. I looked at the stairs with dread, wishing that I didn't have my room on the bottom floor though I only had to go up one flight of stairs. Like the half-wake kid teen, I am. Once I ran up the stairs I was panting at the final step.

"Yeah, Dad?"

I asked it as a question though I most knew what he called me upstairs for, I did ask him to tell me about his life when he was younger. I sat down at the table, crisscrossed on the seat even though I had full control of sitting straight, but why sit straight in a chair like that's weird?

"Here"

My dad passed me his tablet, it was an online book. I look up to my dad.

"My friend Todd made this, it's a story from when we were sailing"

I looked back down to the tablet. Sailing, boats, and most importantly ocean my mind went into a craze. I am obsessed with the ocean though sailing was not on my bucket list but what was on the list was to have freedom on the high seas, i'd gladly point all the blame on the show that made me obsessed with the ocean. I looked down at the device and it said right on the top 'Real rock and roll v2 by: Todd Paddack to Chris'. The story was not long but not short but it was about something that happened on the Pacific Swift the poor girl. The story was only in Todd's POV or from the fancy people's point of view, not my father's. As I looked at the story I saw a picture it was the ship herself in the photo. What a beautiful gal.

"Dad, how did this story look like in your eyes?"

My dad looked up at me.

"Well it went a bit like this..."

Chris or my dad was down in the underdeck of the ship eating on the usually gimbaled table but with a sudden thrust, the boat was tilted farther than it should have been. The table tilted and fell on the floor with a big SLAM making the plates and food fall off or break. Chris went to the upper deck of the ship. The wind was howling around 65 notches, not a fun thing to experience on a 111 squared foot wooden hulled topsail schooner on an 11-month adventure from Vancouver to Australia now stuck somewhere south of Hawaii. The dark grey clouds filled the sky as it was just after sundown, though Chris knew that it was a storm right after the first slash. Chris one of the first ones up on deck heard a yell from the skipper.

"all hands on deck! All hands on DECK"

Three of the first people Chris, Dave, and Todd were the few of the first to take action. The port side of the ship was buried in the boiling ocean with the scene of the flapping sails and tangled lines. Chris, Trevor, and Fran pounced on the sail sheet as Todd, Peter, and Dave were at the bow heaving jib topsail downhaul. A very serious skipper went up to Chris and Todd and yelled.

"Look up! The topsails! The wind! They have to be lashed down"

Chris and Dave looked at each other. With a yell, Dave spoke up.

"Go up there? Now? In this?"

Chris yelled to Dave.

"Let's do it! She needs us! Story for the grandkids! Go for it!"

As Chris and Todd put on their harnesses Dave called out to them.

"WAIT"

the rest of his words were a mutter to the violent waves

"Take Trev! Take Mark! Two guys on lower! One for the upper! Mark up the main topsail"

Chris swung outboard over the water and started up starboard while the heavy winds were coming down on the shrouds. The foremast groaned under the strain. There was a loud raddling sound as two chain plates broke off the shrouds, and the crew's hearts dropped. The hearts of the crewmates dropped once more as lightning struck down the ocean. On the top of the mast, something was missing. The lightning rod. Both lighting rods were gone. The work was getting done quickly as the lighting became faster, louder, and closer to the ship. Trevor scrambled on topsail as Chris went to the port side while Todd went to starboard. Right when the lighting was at its peak Chris was working on his third and last section, four feet above Todd was Trevor fighting the sail.

"Guys! We have to go!"

Chris howled out to the rest. The crew that was fixing the sails and were done at this point yelled in agreement. The skipper yelled as loud as he could to get us all back down. Chris was around the first one down the sails as well as Mark, and Todd followed after. One person wasn't down, Trevor, he was still up on the ringing sail. Trevor's harness was stuck, but he was able to make quick work of it as he was finally able to step down. The last of the adrenaline was seeping out as Mark, Chris, Todd, and Trevor were all met in a bear hug in a celebration. In the end, all of them went to the underdeck for a nice warm cup of hot cocoa.

"......Woah....dad? What was the name of the ship again?"

My dad looked down at me.

"Oh... Her name is Pacific Swift.."