Betrayal Book 03

One of our stop overs was in a small village called Alvor. Alvor was only a couple of hours sailing from Lagos so we had an easy day of it before spending the evening in there. Chris approached me rather nervously. She and Toni must have talked it over at some point and Chris approached me rather nervously before dinner earlier that evening and asked. "You remember when we had that little talk about my education?"

I searched my memory and recalled the event. Chris and I were sharing a late night watch and I asked her about her University plans. She and Toni had originally planned a gap year out before attending University and she asked me whether I thought it was a good idea. I had advised her strongly to enter University as soon as possible. I said, "of course I do. Have you made a decision?"

"Yes, we both have, but we don't want to break our agreement with you. We signed on for a loose arrangement but knew you were planning for a trip lasting at least six months and we feel that if we jump ship now, you will be left stranded!"

I could see she was clearly upset at wanting to break our agreement, but I moved quickly to reassure her. "Look, don't worry about us. I for one will be delighted if you wanted to return home before the new University Term starts.

"It will solve a problem that to be honest, I failed to appreciate fully when we drew up this crazy scheme. At first, I thought that we would simply sail around the Med enjoying the new lifestyle. What I didn't appreciate is that the Med is not that pleasant in winter. It can be cold, damp and stormy. Amanda and I have been debating whether we should just find a nice marina somewhere and moor up. The other option would be to continue our voyage and make for the Canaries. It's nice and warm there in winter. If you both want to return home to attend University, then you must consider yourselves first. In a way, you will be doing us a favour by returning home as the thought of Tenerife is not that appealing to Amanda or I."

She gave me a big hug and asked, "but you will still be looking for crew next summer won't you?"

"Yes and you both will have first refusal. There's no other crew I would rather have to complete our voyage with." She smiled at me and went away happy to tell Toni.

Amanda and I talked about it and decided to over winter either here or in Lagos. She then surprised me by suggesting that we rent a house ashore for the winter. TAGHTA was a fairly large vessel, but the idea of spending everyday aboard while we waited for the Spring did not appeal to her. She then added the clincher, "You know, there are very good Golf Courses on the Algarve. We could relax, play some golf and even invite some friends over to join us."

I considered her proposal for about two seconds before agreeing to it. We would start the next stage of our voyage afresh next Spring. I didn't realise it then, but events were to change that would mean the postponement of our trip deep into the Med until later in the summer.

So the days passed as we slowly made our way to our rendezvous with Inter-video and Matt. We arrived a day early and set about bringing TAGHTA back into shipshape fashion. The surprise was that Matt was there early as well as he wanted to meet with Chris before our formal discussions took place. This was very mysterious I thought at the time but, when I mentioned it to Amanda. She laughed at me and said. "You idiot. He's fallen for her hook, line and sinker. I think he wants to get to know her a lot better and this gives him the perfect opportunity."

He must have done something right as Chris disappeared into the shower and used most of the hot water before appearing in the stunning little cocktail dress she bought for the Regatta Dinner. She talked quietly to Amanda before disappearing to meet her beau. I asked Amanda. "What's all the whispers about?"

She replied, "She was just telling me that she may not be back tonight!"

Neither of us noticed Toni recording our conversation or Chris's departure. She kept it very quiet and was smiling to herself the whole evening. Eventually she could hold herself in check no longer and said. "You realise that she's madly in love with Matt, don't you?"

We nodded that we were well aware of that situation and listened for the rest of the evening as she excitedly speculated about their future.

The following morning, we met with Matt at his hotel. He turned up with Chris in tow and was all business. His boss also appeared and was introduced as the Executive Producer. His name and I kid you not, was Julian St Bartholey. I almost burst out laughing and it took a swift dig from Amanda to prevent me snorting out loud. He took command of the situation and it was no surprise when he told us that in addition to the narrative recording the sea voyage, the real story we had recorded was the relationship between Amanda and me with a subplot about my relationship with both Chris and Toni. I had not realised it, but Matt felt that the human interest factor was a high priority, because in Amanda and I, he had a love story and in my developing relationship with Chris and Toni, he had a surrogate father, daughter story to tell.

Then he pointed out several clips where either Chris or Toni had approached me with personal problems. Chris's problem was with her father. Her relationship with him had deteriorated when her mother had died suddenly and he had taken up with another woman within months of her death. I had no great insights to give her, but I tried to make her see the problem from his point of view and I was gratified that he had made the first approach after seeing her involvement in the rescue. Toni's problem was boys. She was friendly outgoing young lady but she worried that all they wanted from her was a quick jump in the sack. That was one issue that I really couldn't help her with and I persuaded her to talk to Amanda. Amanda must have used her years of experience as a teacher as Toni bucked up almost immediately. Amanda put her problem down to a lack of self-confidence and cited that her experience helping to sail TAGHTA demonstrated she had no reason to be intimidated by boys.

We discussed the options with the format change. Our contract was for a fly on the wall video about one man's search for a new life after divorce. We had ended up with something a bit different and had reached a kind of an impasse. I was not all keen to the format change and the girls were not bothered either way. Amanda was all for the suggested changes and tried to persuade me but failed to convince me.

Matt and Julian entertained us that evening and we reviewed where we were planning to over winter. We told them that it was our intention to stop in Lagos for the winter and probably rent a house before resuming our voyage next Spring. Matt, in particular was delighted when he learned that Chris would be back in the UK attending University. I was surprised that she had not mentioned it the previous evening, but they were probably too busy to talk.

Matt and Julian left the same day to return to Bristol where they had their offices. With them they took all the remaining footage we had shot and promised to inform us when the first two episodes were ready. These episodes would be used to sell the programme to the networks and would not necessarily be in sequence.

When they left, the crew and I sat down to decide our next steps. It was now well into August and Chris and Toni would need to leave us no later than mid-September to attend Fresher's week and enrol formally at Glasgow University.

The final decision was that we would head for Gibraltar before returning to Faro where Chris and Toni would leave us to return home. The short hop to Lagos would be no problem for Amanda and I on our own. We were probably over crewed for short hops and only needed the full complement when we were intending to sail round the clock.

In the event it was an easy trip to direct from Albufeira to Gib in one hop. We found Gibraltar a little disappointing and quickly moved on to Tangier in Morocco. The girls had a field day in the local souks and returned aboard with what they called essentials. Amanda was very mysterious about what she had purchased and said I would have to wait until we got our house in Lagos sorted out. I had been on the internet and contacted an estate agent with our requirements. The market must be slow because we had half a dozen villas to view at our convenience.

Tangier was a very large city and the contrasts between the rich and poorer people quite pronounced. It was also extremely noisy and I had concerns about the dockside security where we were berthed. I was reluctant to leave TAGHTA without someone aboard and very reluctant to let the girls out unescorted after dark, so with it was with regret we left Tangier after only one night.

Time was marching on and I plotted a direct course North to Faro and this trip was completed with only one minor skirmish with a very large container ship on our first night out. I was at the helm when she appeared seemingly out of nowhere. I had been checking our radar constantly as the Straits of Gibraltar are a busty sea route, but the damn thing went U/S just before dark. Toni as usual was on deck trying to get some last shots of the setting sun when I had noticed the ship bearing down on us out of the dark. I had to make a sharp tack to starboard to avoid her. I suppose that I didn't really need to take such drastic action as in the event she passed us by with fifty metres to spare. Even so the wash from her caught us broadside on and almost capsized us. That fright apart, we duly reached Faro and were able to disembark Chris and Toni only a short taxi ride from the Airport.

There were tears when they left us, Amanda and I had become very fond of them both over the few months we had known them and TAGHTA felt very quiet without them. Now that we had lost our photographer, Amanda assumed most of the duties during the remainder of our trip back westwards to Lagos. The routine evening diary entry was so ingrained into us now that we did it automatically, but without Chris and Toni there seemed little to comment on.

Book 3 -- Betrayal - Chapter 4 - A change of plans

Once back in Lagos, I made arrangements to get the radar repaired and was dismayed to find that it had to be sent to Faro where the main dealer was located. We had just sailed from there!

While I was sorting the radar out and arranging for TAGHTA to be taken out of the water for some hull maintenance, Amanda, spent her time looking at what was available on the local rental market. One essential item that I did before all that was to purchase and old banger car as a run around. Though taxis were inexpensive, it became a pain constantly looking for them and it would be more convenient when we started playing golf. That was also another purchase we required. We needed to buy clubs. I had sold mine before I left the UK as I thought that I would not have much opportunity to play while at sea!

These purchases made a bit dent in my cash reserves. I had plenty of investments, but my cash reserves in hand took a beating. Amanda insisted in contributing to the overheads, but she like me had her money tied up in investments that took time to realise back into cash.

We leased a nice four bed-roomed villa just outside of Lagos in Meia Praia.It had its own private pool and had the advantage of being located close to several golf clubs. We moved in within the week.

It was a couple of weeks later that we received an email from Matt that requested our presence in Bristol. They had taken the liberty of booking our flights from Faro and also a room at the Holiday Inn, Chris and Toni would also be there as there was something important that they wanted to discuss with us.

I phoned Matt up immediately and he sounded quite excited about how the project was going. I pressed him about why he needed Amanda and I in Bristol, but he refused to be drawn. All he would say was that preliminary interest in the pilot episode was very positive and he would be able to tell use more when we were all together.

We were more than happy to have an expenses paid trip back to the UK. It would enable us to catch up with things at home and see some old friends. So we duly turned up in Bristol to be met by Matt and transported to the Holiday Inn. Our room turned out to be a suite and I commented to Amanda, that they must be keen to get our approval to whatever they had in mind. Chris and Toni were also there, sharing a room and we all had dinner together that evening.

The following day we all travelled together to Inter-video's offices and were met by Julian and Matt. We went into a conference room and they talked us through the agenda for the day. Firstly they had two complete episodes for us to view and comment on. Following that they wanted to view the footage we had filmed since our last get together and finally they had two proposals to make for us.

They screened the first two episodes for us and I was amazed at how professional it looked. The story in those two episodes covered the voyage from the time of the rescue through to our Regatta success. Viewers would be left hanging at the end of the second episode as to whether Amanda and I managed to reconcile or not. The remaining footage was still in the cutting room and not ready yet, so we had to give our approval for them to sell the programme on the basis of what we had just seen.

Then came the poser that they wanted to discuss. They told us that the programme was attracting interest from the BBC and from Sky/BSB, but their concern was that the episodes they had shown us were really inserted into what should be the middle part of the sequence. They wanted to me to recreate the circumstances that led to my decision to change my lifestyle and buy TAGHTA! Not only that, they wanted us to recreate the voyage down from Scotland to Exmouth!

I protested that that would mean bring TAGHTA all the way back from the Med!

Matt said. "We've thought of that and we can arrange to have her shipped back to Scotland if you, Chris and Toni are willing to recreate your first voyage together. It's vitally important that the viewer can follow your progress and get involved with the drama of it all. We have been hawking the promo video around and both the BBC and Sky and both are very interested, but they are demanding that they need an introduction episode from your decision to begin anew, selection of vessel and crew, followed by the first voyage."

Chris and Toni were all for it and I was looking for objections that would kill the deal. Did I really want to go through all the hassle just to make a story complete?

Trying to buy time, I said, "One thing springs immediately to mind, if you want the continuity you say you need, we will also need to recreate the cross channel trip at least up to the point where the helicopter and ferry video footage you have can take over! Have you considered that?"

"We were hoping that you would be prepared to do that as well. We will need some footage of you departing from Exmouth but after that we could shorten your time commitment by arranging to have TAGHTA sailed cross channel professionally and you three transferred by helicopter for some background shots of you entering into Saint-Malo harbour. We probably have sufficient offshore sequences in the can already to use for the crossing sequences! What are your thoughts on that?"

I was stunned at the scale of their proposal and must have voiced my concerns out loud when I said, "But that would mean delaying the release of the series until well after next Summer!

"We're not worried about that. The way programmes are scheduled, the majors won't have a slot for transmitting the series until next Autumn anyway. From our preliminary discussions they are keen to put it out at peak viewing hours. Incidentally, they are confident that their ratings will justify the fee we are proposing." This was the first time money was mentioned since our original contract. Amanda asked, "What sort of money are we talking about here?"

Julian took us through a presentation showing us the budget and revenue projections. The figures mentioned made us all gasp. It seems that with interest also from abroad our royalty payments would ensure that I wouldn't need to be careful with my investments as I thought. Then Matt mentioned that the book deal would also provide additional revenue and I had to stop him and say, "What book deal?"

Realising that Matt had jumped the gun a bit, Julian interrupted him and said. "Well that was the other thing we wanted to discuss. BBC Publications will want a book to be published to coincide with the programme transmission." This was getting out of hand and my head was spinning at just how much things had escalated so I asked them all to leave Amanda and I alone so we could discuss this development.

After they departed, I looked to Amanda for support and she said. "It's your decision Bill and yours only. You will have to explain why you came to decide about your lifestyle change and that will inevitably bring out some of the less savoury parts of our past. I will not object to anything you decide, but if you want my opinion, you've got to do it!"

"Are you sure about this? I mean raking up the past when we are just getting our lives sorted out again! Is it worth subjecting ourselves to the intrusion of our privacy? I'm not sure that I want to go there."

"I think it will help you finally slay the dragon about my infidelity."

I made to interrupt her at this point but she waved me down and said. "I have been with you now for nearly two months and occasionally you look at me and you go AWOL. I know you are reliving the past and I suspect you are wondering if a similar situation with another man were to arise, would I stay or would I stray? No amount of reassurance from me will ever convince you to trust me the way you used to. I believe that if you write this book, it will help you get everything off your chest and out into the open. Maybe then, we can restore the trust and love fully! It's your decision and I will say no more about it." Once again, I realised that she knew me far better than anyone. She was spot on with her analysis, I was realised that lurking deep in my subconscious were doubts about her and my lack of trust in her.

We asked everyone to return and I said. "After due consideration, I have decided I agree to write the book. The recreating of the trip down from Scotland, I will do myself as long as Chris and Toni are willing to put up with me once more. As for the cross channel episode, I 'm not happy to leave TAGHTA in the hands of others and my preference is to sail her over ourselves, again if my crew will stand by me?"

Chris and Toni both added their agreement to the new arrangements and I then asked, "what effect does these changes make to our contract?"

There were relieved looks from the Inter-video team and they were quick to demonstrate how pleased they were with my decision. I suspected that if I had refused the book and the other requests, the whole deal may have capsized. That knowledge strengthened my negotiating position and I held out for the deal I wanted. They assured us that a new contract would need to be drawn up and they were confident that we could reach an agreement that would make all parties happy. I won't go into the technicalities of the deal, but I knew that if the projections for sales were realised, Amanda and I would be financially secure for the rest of our lives. The meeting closed after we finalised the details of bring TAGHTA home and we adjourned to the local pub to celebrate.

In the pub, Chris revealed that she and Matt were an item and though it was early days, she was hopeful that he could be the one. We all congratulated her and then Toni announced that she was keeping in touch with one of the boys that we met at the regatta. It was a great way to finish the day off and as we parted, we promised to keep in touch. I reminded them both that their services would be required next spring, when we once again sailed from Largs to Exmouth.