Spring Break - Part 2
By Dave and Jaja

No matter how well you winterize your boat for the season, when you put the boat back into the water there will be several things that ultimately don't work. Even if every onboard system was left in perfect working order, something is bound to be stuck or broken after several months of sitting idle. The older a boat gets, the worse this dilemma becomes. It's the same when I wake up after a fitful sleep. I might have felt great when I went to bed, but in the morning my joints are frozen and I need a strong cup of coffee to get going.

On DRIVER'S launching day the wind was blowing 30 knots from the north. The temp was around 20°, and snow was blowing in white-out gusts. I asked the yard manager if it was too windy. We would be using a crane and DRIVER would be hanging from a single cable. But he said our boat was very heavy and would not be difficult to control. It was the first time DRIVER'S 20,000 pound displacement had ever been an advantage. An hour later our floating home hit the water without a hitch. The crane guy removed the slings and we were once again happy cruisers.

The day before the launch I had bled our Volvo 2003 series engine then fired it up. Everything worked! The boat yard was in a shallow corner of a very exposed bay and I would have to depend on the engine immediately after the launch. We would go in at high tide and have two hours to get away from the pier before running aground. The next closest protected dock was in the main harbor, a mile away, up a narrow channel.

As soon as DRIVER was in the water I went to start the engine. It wouldn't start. I tried everything. To all appearances the fuel pump wasn't pumping. I removed it. No suction. I took it up to the yard manager who had rebuilt the pump the year before. He had gone away for the day. They did not have a spare rebuild kit in stock anyway. I went back to the boat. The tide was dropping. The wind was howling. Two feet of snow was piled on deck. My feet were cold. I did not want to hire a fishing boat to pull me around to the main harbor so I put the pump back on the engine. Snow that I had tracked into the cabin on my boots was not melting. My fingers were icy.

Years before I had bought an electric fuel pump for such an emergency. I hastily wired it up and spliced the pump into the main fuel line. The engine started at once.

I didn't fancy motoring out into the teeth of 30 knots with a temporary electric fuel pump being the only link to DRIVER'S survival. I drug the mainsail on deck and prepared to bend it on. If the motor quit at least I would have the sail. The track on the boom was full of ice so I had to clear it with a screw driver before the bolt rope on the foot of the sail would slide in. I looked at the jetty. The tide was falling quickly. Another half hour and we'd be aground. I finally got the main on, inserted the battens, tied in the reefs lines, and attached the halyard. The Lewmar halyard sheet stopper was full of ice. I had to bang on it with a winch handle to free it up.

The engine was still ticking away. I dropped the mooring lines, put the combination engine throttle/gear shift lever into the neutral position, and I watched for the little button to pop out which indicated that the gear box cable was engaged. But the button was frozen in. The engine would not go into gear. The tide went down another inch. I pulled my hat further down around my cold ears and sighed. Isn't yachting grand.