Maiden Voyage

We began our sailing career with a short voyage from our slip at F dock to our new slip at D dock. We made our way to the dock just before high tide so we had plenty of room between our berth and the wall of rocks next to and below our boat. With neither of us having any experience motoring (or sailing) a sailboat, we planned our route and our equipment, our positions on the boat, and our jobs during the voyage as if we were planning for an antarctic voyage. Checklists were made, jobs were agreed upon and we took a deep breath to begin the voyage.

Our first task was to start the 2-stroke outboard. The week before, we were given instructions by the previous boat's owner and received information about the quirks and "character" of the motor. We pumped the fuel line attached it to the motor and started it to let it warm up for a while. When we agreed that it was sufficiently warm, we prepared to cast off. As soon as we cast off the bow line, the motor began to sputter and ask for a different mixture. I ran back to adjust the mixture, then cast off the stern line and we were afloat.

Our next objective was to get the boat pointed out toward the end of the marina which proved to be "impossible" at first. Apparently sailboats don't like to "steer" or "go where you want them to go" when you "don't know what you're doing". Using the boat hook to push off other boats and the looks from the onlookers to guide our boat to the right heading, we managed to point the bow down the row.

At this point, with adrenaline rushing, Lauren crouched near the bow with her boat hook poised to harpoon any boats that "jumped out in front of our boat," we headed into what looked to us to be an Indiana Jonesesque gauntlet of rotating knives, poison darts, and sharp pointy things ready to spear us. With my attention directed to the dangers ahead, I failed to notice the 3 giant gray and black spiders crawling toward my hand on the motor's tiller. Fighting back these beasts while trying to maintain calm so that my mate would also keep her cool, the motor began to sputter and eventually quit. Apparently, moving 20 feet had been too much for it. I could not restart it. The boat ended up drifting into a perpendicular-to-our-desired-path arrangment and we used our blessed boat hook to pull us closer to the dock and we slowly pushed our boat back to it's slip.

We took a breather now because the motor wouldn't start.

Eventually I was able to restart the motor. I believe we had flooded it running to high of a mixture. We later realized the motor was not happy with our decision to not bring any alcohol aboard for its maiden voyage because as soon as we cast off the second time, the motor began to sputter again. But this time we were pointed in better direction and we managed to turn and get going straight and the motor decided to play nice. I dared not open the throttle too much so it felt like the trip to the end of the dock took an hour. In reality it was probably closer to 30 minutes (but most likely 5).

We made the left turn and then another left turn at the end of D dock, and got a glimpse of our destination, D-54! After my initial elation, the dread of having to turn into that berth and not hit Kawabunga! set in. Luckily there were others at the dock and after a "missed" wide turn, overshooting the berth, we managed to pull in and tie up.

Earlier, we thought we might want to go out for a little sail. We decided run to the store to get some beer and just sit with the boat for a while and give it a little scrubbing of the deck.