Beginnings.... and endings.

My boating season has actually begun! I could have written about it two weeks ago, but our home Internet connection has been lousy. I’m hoping that this will work better now.

Boat Pictures Available Here

The marina fixed the engine (again), this time by cleaning out the gas tank and putting in new gas and oil. I ran it for a while over a week ago, and it seemed fine. They hadn’t yet fixed the jib halyard, so I couldn’t go very far (or do any interesting sailing). I don’t recall if I mentioned the halyard problem before, but when I was trying to set the roller furling jib, the halyard and messenger line jammed and then the knot came loose. That left the end of the halyard waving around about 20 feet off the deck. The options were 1. bring the mast down, which I can’t do myself and which would be expensive to get them to do with a crane, 2. have someone haul me up the mast in a bosun’s chair (which I don’t have and which would take, as the guy at the marina office said “a couple of friends I really trust”), or 3. have them use their “manlifter” to send someone up to take care of it, which would take 5 minutes or less. Unfortunately it took them weeks to get around to that job.

Well, they finally did do it so last weekend, I was able to set the jib, which is working perfectly now. I also fixed the cabin table, whose hinges had snapped. Things were going well, so I decided to go out sailing on Saturday.

I was pretty nervous, reasonably so, as it turned out. There are several points in the process that give me pause. First, getting away from the dock without hitting anything or getting a mooring line caught in the propeller. That’s actually not so bad. Second, wondering whether the engine is going to get me safely out of the marina, down the river, under the bridge and out to the lake. Third, wondering whether it is going to start and get me back in again. And finally, getting back into my slip without hitting anything. My fantasies (nightmares?) mostly center around being out of control in the middle and being pushed toward the bridge when it is not open yet.

Well, I got out of the slip and into the river just fine. I had to circle once before the bridge opened, but as long as I didn’t try to run the engine too slowly, it seemed to be fine. Slow it down, and it does start sounding like it might stall. Once the bridge opened, I successfully joined the small parade out into the lake. I unfurled the jib and turned off the engine. Everything seemed fine.

I should have taken extra time to prepare the boat for sailing before leaving the slip. That would have included removing the mainsail, cover, putting the jib blocks in place, and several other things. I had forgotten how tough it is to do things like that on my own while sailing. I have GOT to figure out a way to control the steering without me at the helm. Even a matter of a minute or so would help a lot. Anyway, I decided to just sail under jib alone for the afternoon.

The sailing was inconsistent, due to fluky winds. One minute good sailing, the next not even steerageway. I had decided to stay out for only a couple of hours, but I found myself reluctant to stop, not because the sailing was great, but because I was nervous about starting the engine. I finally did so, however, trying to time it so that I could head up the river to catch the half hour bridge opening. It started right up and ran like a dream, but after a few minutes, it slowed and died. I groaned, but it started right up, so I thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, it repeated the pattern over and over again, with the running times getting shorter and shorter. Finally, it refused to start.

After sitting for a minute with my head in my hands, I unfurled the jib again and went back to sailing while I thought about my options. They seemed to come down to 1. trying to flag down a tow, 2. calling the BoatUS towing service (who knows when they would come), or 3. sailing up the river. I finally decided to sail in. The wind was from the right direction and could control my speed. I seriously considered trying to sail under the bridge and up to my slip. Once past the bridge, I could easily get right to the slip, with the wind from that direction. I moved faster than expected, however, and was WAY too early for the bridge. Instead, I managed to tie up at the yacht club.

I walked upriver to the marina and started asking around for someone with a dinghy with a motor to bring me the rest of the way. The man from the marina office who I have worked with most extensively offered to use his small Boston Whaler. Not long afterwards, I was back in my slip. (And the yacht club was nice about it, seeing as how I was somewhat in distress.)

Clearly, I can’t go on like this. I was talking to one of my slip neighbors, who said “Yeah, we had to be towed in once, too.” Once! It’s happened to me repeatedly. The marina is going to check the engine again, but I’m going to have a backup outboard installed, too. Until it stalled this time, I was just starting to relax a bit. Removing some of that anxiety would make the experience a lot more enjoyable.