Perfectly calm this morning, so even though twenty-knot winds were predicted, we took off. Had no problem leaving the dock. Our main concern was that we might go aground in the shallow, unmarked channel. Roy proceeded very cautiously and slowly. We were almost to the river when the depth gauge began dropping perilously. I yelled, "To the right!" Roy turned to the right, and we were soon back in deep water.
On my first watch, I goofed up but good. I had been well aware that we had to maintain our course past buoy number one until we got to buoy "SP", but as we approached 1, I got confused by a lighthouse in front of us that I couldn't find on the chart. When I finally saw a lighthouse on the chart, I thought that must be the one I was looking at and I should stay west of it, so I turned south as soon as I passed buoy one. All of a sudden, we were in eight feet of water! I reduced speed immediately. Roy came up from the main cabin and found the lighthouse on the chart. It was the Smith Point light, marking the shoal off the point. I had gone right into the shoal area. Fortunately, we hadn't gone aground. I changed course, went past the lighthouse, and continued out to buoy "SP". Then we could safely head south.
Around noon, a favorable wind came up, so Roy put out the headsail and staysail and told me to raise the mizzen. I hooked up my safety harness and went aft. The wind was blowing like crazy. I tried to raise the mizzen but couldn't. The halyard seemed to be caught on something. I couldn't see what, so I went back to the cockpit to ask Roy to see if he could raise it, but he told me to forget the mizzen; the engine had died. He took in the headsail, so we were only making one or two knots with just the staysail. I steered while Roy went down into his little bunny hole (engine compartment). He worked on the engine for hours, with the boat rocking and bouncing. Tools and parts kept falling down, but he managed to get most of them up. The fuel filter and valve seemed to be all right, so Roy figured the problem was in the fuel pump, so he replaced it. Then a crucial, irreplaceable piece of tubing disappeared. We spent the better part of an hour looking for it. Roy finally found it on the floor of the engine compartment, getting ready to go into the bilge. What a relief! He put the tubing back on and tried the engine. It still wouldn't start, so he kept hunting. Finally, he found a part that had a tiny, almost invisible hole that apparently was blocked. He managed to get it unblocked, put it back on, tried the engine, and it started!
What beautiful music! I had never realized an engine could sound so lovely.
By then it was after four, and the sun was going down. We zoomed at top speed towards the Rappahanock River. By the time we got there, it was dark. Nearly went on another shoal, but found the channel again. The marina I had hoped to go to was closed for the winter, and the other marinas were down a channel that was only five feet deep, so we headed towards the shore and dropped anchor in 17 feet of water.
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