Click here <\/a>to view a 31 MB video of sailing on a starboard tack.) They both came back raving about the experience, and marveling at all the activity required to sail. I guess Hollywood makes sailing seem more relaxing and simple.<\/p>\nThe next day, while Dad and I drove Carmen towards her sister\u2019s place, Van discovered the fuel injection pump was dripping fuel from the throttle control rod. So we started on that week long repair. The fact that Dad\u2019s owned diesel tractors all his life meant he had some very useful words of wisdom. (We\u2019ll report in full on that repair in another posting.)<\/p>\n
Van finally got the the engine running again the day before my sister Carol arrived for the weekend. Hurrah! Though she\u2019d never been on a sailboat before, she said that as a kid she used to read sailing adventure books, and was very much looking forward to going out. Unfortunately, our summer weather has been rotten, so there was not a lick of wind for the first 2 days of her short visit.<\/p>\n
Finally, on their last full day of their visit, there was a good 10 knot wind so we set off midday. We motored out of the bay, raised the sails and set off. Fantastic! Big smiles all around.<\/p>\n
Then Van spotted the approaching Trident Submarine and its escort detail. Van and I knew what that meant. Sure enough, when the Sub was a couple miles away, the Coast Guard zoomed towards us in their zodiac boat, complete with deck mounted gun, to ask about our intentions. We had a nice exchange about where we were going (answer, Port Ludlow) and how they were enforcing a 1000 yard safety perimeter around the approaching sub. We assured them we would stay out of the way. Below, you can see the nice photos Carol took of that little encounter.<\/p>\n
We planned to fill the diesel tank in Port Ludlow, so we sailed close to the fuel dock and then I tried to start the engine. For the first time in our ownership, the diesel failed to start. Wow! Hmm. What now? Carol and Dad scurried below to get out of the way. Van and Dad looked at the engine and poked a few things \u2013 no change. It seemed like it wasn\u2019t getting any fuel.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, there was a nice gentle wind and a convenient place to anchor nearby. So that\u2019s what we did. Once safely anchored, we could think a little clearer about what to do next. Van started bleeding the fuel lines \u2013 maybe there was an air bubble left in the lines from the recent repair. As he bled the vent on the anti-stall device, sadly the screw sheared off as he tightened it. It must have already been cracked, because he said the difficult access means he couldn\u2019t put much force on it. At any rate, further cranking of the engine showed fuel spewing from the failed screw area \u2013 so that\u2019s it, no more engine without parts. No worries, I said. We\u2019ll call Vessel Assist, and we have insurance to pay for the tow.<\/p>\n
Vessel Assist was nearby, in fact, just north of Foulweather bluff. If we had looked, we probably could have seen them already towing another vessel towards Shilshole Marina, which is a long ways away. They predicted they could get back to us in probably 5 hours. It was 5PM. We needed to get up early in the morning to get to the airport for their midday flight. Yikes! Everyone is still calm, but not too happy about the situation.<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cThis is a sailboat, there is a decent wind \u2013 let\u2019s sail towards home and see how we do!\u201d After a prudent check of the charts and tides, we decided it was safe to haul anchor and set off. Once we tediously tacked our way out of the bay under light winds and against the current, we made good progress towards home on a beam reach in the 8-10 knot winds (and with the current helping in this direction). Underway, we made a call to a good neighbor in our marina, who kindly offered to tow us in if needed. That was an extremely nice security blanket to have! But the winds were holding and it was approaching high tide, so we decided to sail in. We could always drop anchor if we got into trouble in the narrow entrance channel. And we had practiced sailing to our slip before \u2013 twice in fact. So we had gained experience about how to do it right when their was no engine to rescue a failed attempt at docking. (For both those practices, I got Van to the dock under sail, but both times I used the engine to help us stop and stay at the right position while Van tied the docking lines.)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m happy to say \u2013 those earlier experiences at docking under sail paid off. We knew when to haul in the sails so we could coast into our slip with just the right speed and Van could still easily use the docking lines to stop her and tie up. Carol and Dad gave us a round of applause and big smiles! Quite the adventure indeed! We made it home by 8PM, had a nice dinner, packed their bags and got to bed by 10PM. Very nice.<\/p>\n
Next day, I drove Carol and Dad to the airport while Van started looking for replacement parts. He found them right away, and Keith the helpful mechanic suggested that Van should check the stop control to make sure the lack of fuel wasn\u2019t because the fuel supply was shut off. You know, sort of the \u201cis it plugged in?\u201d question that\u2019s first in the troubleshooting list for electrical appliances.<\/p>\n
As I sit here writing this, Van just called me from the boat. The stop control handle is still in the out position, which means the engine didn’t start because we had the fuel supply shut off. During the fuel pump repair last week, he had to disconnect the stop control. For some reason, now the spring is not pulling the stop control back again. I can assure you, we will never fail the \u201cis it plugged in, silly?\u201d test again.<\/p>\n
All\u2019s well that ends well. If that vent screw sheared off so easily, it was time to replace it anyway. We should get the part in less than a week, and then we\u2019ll try again to set off on our \u201cgo North\u201d big summer adventure. Sadly, stores are already advertising \u201cend of summer\u201d sales. Here in the PNW, it feels like our summer has only just barely begun.
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