End of another season

Well, my sailing season is over for another year. It's been a long time since I wrote here. Again, one of the reasons is that good sails, without problems are not as memorable or as worth writing about as the ones that go wrong in some way. Most have been good.

The one exception was the last one of the season this past Sunday. I went out by myself, and everything was going pretty well at first. I'm getting more skilled at putting up the sails, tacking, and doing other things without help. I can often her to sail herself for a while while I get something to drink or pull out the chart. This time, however, I got out into the lake, put the sails up and then shut down the outboard motor. When I pulled it up out of the water, the small part that serves as a "dead man's switch" popped out and sank in the lake. Up until that moment I truly thought that it was attached to the motor, but obviously it wasn't.

This was a definite "oh shit" moment. In the fraction of a second as it sank out of sight, I seemed to go through all the implications of this and said, sure enough, "oh shit." Without that piece, the motor simply will not start and run. Within a few more seconds I had confirmed that the wind was blowing directly out of the river, meaning that there was no chance of sailing back to the marina. I spent a couple of hours sailing around, but it wasn't as much fun as it might have been, given the fact that I spent most of the time thinking of my options.

I finally, for the first time in my life, radioed for help. I have BoatUS towing insurance, and the appropriate company answered my hail and dispatched a tow boat, which arrived in under an hour, exactly as advertised. The tow back in would have cost almost $350, without the insurance, so that membership has now paid for itself. Naturally, an hour or two later, the wind picked up from the northeast this time--perfect for sailing up the river.

Basically, I have concluded that if there is something that can go wrong with a boat engine, I will find it. The marina should hire me to test all their engine repairs, although presumably they would need to keep a towboat available at all times.

Once I was back at the marina, I spent a few hours getting the sails off her and filling the car with gear. She is due to come out of the water sometime this week, although I did email them to warn them that I haven't yet replace the sunken part, so the motor still won't work. I will have to go back next weekend to get the rest of the gear, replace the part, and put some tarps over her for the winter.

Then the only problem will be to figure out how to pull a Tom Sawyer and con some people into helping clearn, sand, varnish, and paint next Spring, probably late April or early May.