We earned a red badge of courage as sailors and finally managed to wrap a dock line around our prop with the engine running, while in gear.
We had taken our boat to a finger pier and had a diver do a ‘bottom job’ on the boat while we did some wood finishing work. An extra stern line was deployed to help the diver maneuver around under the hull from the other stern cleat.
The weather had been a bit fractious with localized storms passing on either side of us at Nyack. We experienced some wind gusts and a few rain drops.
Since there was some lightning and thunder nearby I guess we were in a hurry to get back to the mooring. I cast off the dock lines as Matt took us off the finger pier until the motor died. It did not sound right. Tried again and the same.
We unfurled the jib and managed to sail to our mooring under jib alone. Granted, there were light winds but there is always a current in the Hudson. My hat is off to Ernie who kept in touch with us by radio and picked us up once the lightning had moved safely off to the SE.
So on Tuesday, we had a clean bottom, a new main sail and an engine that was fouled because the propeller was strangled by a line, or rope, wrapped around it.
By Wednesday afternoon I got to our boat club at 4 PM and we ‘hip towed’ our boat in with one of their motor boats. Morris helped us with lifting the boat out of the water with their 10 Ton crane while Matt scooted under our boat to cut away the offending tangle of line on our prop. We now owe Morris a yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum for his help in expediting the mess we had both made.
Because we had just lifted our boat in the straps we had pushed our center board into the slot far enough so that it was stuck in the up position. We got out to the RC boat and hoped the board would fall but we were prepared to sail her as she was. The center board never dropped and we sailed the whole race without it and I’d be surprised if we were not within seconds of first place or in first. Leeway be damned.
That will not be our first 1st finish this season.
