Taken At Sea
Jackson and his Dad set sail from Wrightsville Beach, NC on a beautiful day in June. School
was over for the year and Jackson was so excited for the summer long adventure with his Dad
Logan. They had plan to sail from Wrightsville Beach, NC to Panama since Jackson was a
little boy. It was the break between Jacksons junior and senior year of high school. His Dad
was an investment banker and had plan to take the entire summer off. This was a trip that had
taken a lot of planning. In preparation of the trip, Logan and Jackson had taken several short
trips in order to prepare for this. They had sailed to the Bahamas once and also went to
Charleston on another occasion in preparation. Logan had taught Jackson every thing he new
about sailing.
Logan purchased a forty foot sloop three years ago in preparation for the big trip. Logan
was divorced from Jackson’s mom and wanted to spend more time with Jackson. He thought
this would give them something to enjoy together. Jackson had read everything at Books
A Million on sailing. Sometimes he would have a hard time keeping focused in class, he keep
day dreaming about this trip.
The first few days were great no phone, computers or clients to bother Logan. Logan
and Jackson had dolphin swimming beside them for part of the trip. They had decided to take
it slow and not to rush there trip. That way they could stop at marinas at night and then set sail
in the open water the next day. The first night they stopped in Myrtle Beach, SC. Logan and
Jackson had been to Myrtle Beach many times but not on a sail boat. They pulled into a marina
at Barefoot Landing and had dinner at Dicks. Logan had been to Dicks before but this was
Jacksons first time. He thought the waiter was being rude but that was just part of the
experience at Dicks. They were up at dawn the next day ready for the open water. If was very hot
that day and Jackson could feel his skin burning. He had put on lots of sun screen on but he was
very fair skin. This was just something he would have to get over. After all he would have
months of hot sun. The next day he was really burnt, he could hardly move from the pain. Logan
said son you are just going to have to toughen up in order to survive the ocean. Logan or Jackson
had no idea what they would have to survive during this trip.
The next few days the trip went well. They had stopped in Charleston, Jacksonville, and
finally made it to Miami. Jackson was really looking forward to seeing South Beach. He heard
the girls there were amazing. He was not disappointed. South Beach was unreal. It was filled
with the best looking girls Jackson had ever saw. Most of the girls had very small bikinis.
Jackson really wished the girls back in North Carolina looked like that. After a few days there
Logan said we must get back to the ocean. Jackson wished the entire vacation could be spent in
South Beach but Dad was right. Jackson ask if they could come back on the way back from
Panama.
As they left Miami they were to set sail to pass by Cuba. Jackson and Logan new they did not
want to get to close to the communist country. They sailed by with no problems. Jackson day
was spent fishing and enjoying the peace and quite of the open sea. Now a lot of their nights
would be spent in open water. They would not have the protection of the United States Coast
Guard to come to there rescue in case of emergency. They had up to date radar and
navigation systems. The sail boat was equipped with the most up to date emergency equipment.
But Mother Nature can not be predicted.
They were about two weeks into the trip. When Logan was looking at the radar and could see
they were headed directly into a storm. They were to far off the coast to make it to shore. They
Only had one choice they had to sail directly thru it. It was over a 100 miles wide and had winds
at over 60 mph with wind gusts of 90 mph. Logan and Jackson went to work making sure the
sails were secured and everything in the boat was ready for the storm they were about to go thru.
Nothing they had ever experienced prepared that before this kind of storm. At first they
thought the boat would be able to handle the storm. They were very wrong. As the winds began
to pick up the sails were tossing back and fourth they could not control it. They were headed
directly into the waves. Every time the boat would go down all Jackson could see was a wall of
water. Jackson was holding on to the wheel when a wave came crashing down and cover the
entire bow. Logan said we have to get inside. They went inside and secured the hatch. They felt
like they were no more than a little match stick. Jacksons heart was beating so fast, he thought
they were going to die. Logan knew they may Never survive the ragging sea. The storm lasted
the entire night. They both were tossed all over the small boat. Logan tried repeatly to get help
over the radio system. But no one could hear there cry for help.
Logan opened the hatch the next morning, the sun was rising over the horizon. They had
lived thru the storm. But they had no idea were they were. The boat was badly damaged and
none of the radar or radio system would work. Jackson ask his Dad what are we going to do.
Logan did not want to worry his son. He said don’t worry we are going to survive this. With the
Sails damaged so bad it would be impossible to repair them. Logan was so glad they had
enough food to last a few weeks. The boat was equipment with flares. Logan decided to send
one off every hour. The boat was equipped with five. They also had a beacon that they activated.
Jackson was hopeful that someone would come to there rescue.
After three days they were both beginning to give up hope. When in the distant Jackson saw a
boat coming directly toward them. Jackson and Logan both could hardly believe it. As the boat
got closer Logan began to worry about what type of people were really coming to the rescue.
Jackson could see a man on the bow with a gun. He said Dad look. Logan could see they may
have been better off staying in the ocean than their current situation.
As the boat approach there were five men all with machine guns. They did not speech much
english. They came on our boat and took all food, money and anything we had that was of any
value. Logan begged them not to kill his son. He told them they could have anything they
wanted but to please let them live. Jackson was so scared he had wanted to just stay at South
Beach but that was not where they were now. There was one guy that was the leader. He look
like he would rather kill you then to even look at you. He was very big about 6’3 and at least
300 pounds. He had tattoos all over his arms and looked like he had not had a shower in
several weeks. The other guys seamed to be scared of the big guy and followed every order he
gave. They tighted Logan and Jacksons hands behind there backs and ordered them onto their
boat. Logan was in the navy when he was younger and knew there was pirates in the area of
South America. They must have saw there flares and knew there was a boat in trouble. But what
Logan could not figure out was why they were taking them hostage. What good would they be!
They had already taking all of there valuables. What else could they want from them?
Logan and Jackson was taken to the main shore somewhere in South American they really
had no clue as to where they were at. They were placed in a small hut with nothing but a dirt
floor. They were left in the hut for two days with no food and very little water. There was no
escaping they hut had a chain around the door and a guard out front. Someone else came to the
door, this man could speak english. He told Logan if you want your son to live you will do
exactly as I say. Logan agreed to do anything they wanted. To Logan surprise they were after
more than just there valuables they were drug traffickers.
The man that spoke English was not a very big man. He was small and looked to be Mexican.
He never yelled at Logan but just told him what they would do to Jackson if he did not fully
cooperate. Logan agreed he would do anything requested. The small guy was named Carlos.
Carlos informed Logan he would be flying back to the United States without Jackson. He would
Be transporting heroin with him back to one of Carlos guys in Miami. Carlos knew that Logan
would have an easier time getting the drugs into the United States than any of his guys from
South America.
Logan was separated from Jackson and taken to a main house. He was told to take a shower
and given a suit that made him look like a typical business man. He was told he would deliver
the drugs to man name Grayson. There would be a car waiting for him at the airport and
if he did anything to alert the police, Jackson would be killed. Logan asked Carlos how do I
know you want kill Jackson. He said you have no choice but to trust me.
Logan was allowed to tell Jackson good bye. He promised Jackson that he would be back for
him. Jackson was very scared. His Dad was going to leave him in a foreign country with drug
dealers. But Logan had no choice or they both would be killed. Logan was transported to the
airport. The airport was no more than an old building with a dirt runway. There was a private
plan waiting for Logan. The plane was filled with heroin. Logan’s job was to get the plane into
the United States without being searched. As the flight took off from the small village Logan
could not help but wonder if he would ever see his son alive again.
It was an six hour flight on the leer jet. This gave Logan time to think how he could alert
the police with out getting Jackson killed. As the plane landed he knew he had a plan. The only
problem was would it really work. The pirates that came on board the boat made sure to get
Logan and Jacksons passport. As Logan was going thru customs he knew he must alert the
police before he got into a car with anyone. In the airport he wrote a note inside his passport
saying check the plane. The guard looked a Logan wondering what was going on. The guard
ordered a search of the plane. When that happen the pilot knew that Logan had told the police.
Logan was called into the police station. Logan explained everything. He begged the police to go
and look for Jackson. But what Logan did not expect was that the police did not believe him.
They thought the story was just to unbelievable. The police were in no big hurry to go in search
for Jackson. They first must to a back ground check on Logan. Logan knew he may be
responsible for getting his son killed. He wished he had never said anything to the police.
After several hours Logan’s background checked out and the FBI was contacted. The pilot
was taken into custody. Every thing was traced from the plane and to where Jackson was.
The only way to get Jackson home alive was the navy seals. The navy seals interviewed
Logan and came up with a plan to rescue Jackson. The navy seals were the only ones that could
get Jackson home alive.
The navy seals made a surprise attack on the small village and rescued Jackson. Jackson
never thought he would leave the small hut alive. He could not believe that the navy seals were
coming to rescue him. The seals transported him to the small airport. Logan was waiting for him
there. The seals had called in the local police and Carols and all his men were arrested. The
seals were going to transport them back to the United States to face charges of kidnapping.
Jackson was so happy to be free and to see his dad. On the flight back to the United States,
Jackson asked his Dad if they could go back to South Beach when they got to Miami. Logan
just laughed.
By: Dean Griffith
