I’m supposed to be writing this while anchored in a wind-sheltered cove someone deep in the Canadian Gulf Islands.  My words describe the ocean birds that grace the shore and the gnarled shapes and smooth bark of the Madronas that hang over the pebbled beaches. Can you see them?

Instead I’m sitting in the back of my van, drinking cold coffee, looking through the side window at the brass propellor on the back of my sailboat.  My boat is back ‘on the hard’ in the Skyline Boatyard outside of Anacortes, WA.   A giant machine with slings as big as a small house and wheels as big as a car hoisted it out of the water and moved it to this yard, releasing it only when all sides were braced with stands and chains and blocks of wood. You can’t tip yard workers enough and when all was said and done, I climbed up an extension ladder and made some coffee in my boat.

It was a loose piece of rope attached to a mooring ball that cut my trip north short.  I was on the edge of Canadian waters and stopping for the night when the rope wrapped around my propellor and tied itself to the strut with a force that stalled the engine and stopped all momementum.  The next 48 hours involved repeated dives under the boat with a serrated knife to try to cut the rope off, followed by a terrible noise when I finally freed the propellor and restarted the engine, phone calls to friends who are mechanically inclined, phone calls to the insurance company, and finally a tow of shame back to Anacortes.

The diagnosis: A bent strut which holds the propellor shaft in place, a bad cutlass bearing, and maybe a bent shaft as well.  The repair is above my pay grade, all of the mechanics in town are booked out for weeks.  The insurance adjuster is booked out until mid-September.  Canadian waters will have to wait until next year. As my sister Robin said: It’s a first world problem.  I have insurance and savings to cover the deductible.  No one got hurt. I still had two amazing months cruising around the San Juan Islands.  The boat will float again and Canada will still be there.

The silver lining is that it has freed me up to do some adulting and to spend more time with friends.  And other adventures are on the horizon.  It’s just a stumble, not a fall.

Seth
Anacortes, WA
8/21/2023