MacGregorSailors.com

I will start with - There should be a stupid mistake section on the discussion board (since we all enjoy reading this stuff!)
It took me two weeks to decide whether to post this or not but I can take the wrath of this board or maybe someone else can relate to when they did something like this.
My last trip was as follows:
Myself, the Admiral, and her cousin
Perfect day -Sunny & 70.... 10- 13 Kts of wind, we left the slip at about 12:30PM
Sailed toward the city and then decided to head home and watch the Eagles lose.
We ordered some wings, dropped the sails and decided to motor back because our current conditions are now 6 Kts and running home against the current at about 1.2 Kts, at 4PM (we wanted to be home by end of the first quarter)
Furled the Genoa, opened fuel tanks and reconnected motor…..Turn the key……motor spins but will not start checked fuel all was ok ….two tanks 3/4 full and valves open and the lines are all primed. I popped out the Genny again sailed out of the channel dropped anchor and sails....re-assed everything, after about a dozen tries with the starter, I pulled the cover off the motor and tried to pull a sparkplug out but the socket that came with the motor bent and could not remove the plugs to see if they were flooded. Next I pulled a wire off the plug and was getting no spark to the cylinders….. Now what!!!!
I figured it was some sort of electronic module on the motor. With it getting dark now at 5:30 and we were still 4 miles out. I made the call to Sea-Tow so they can start out to us. I figured they can pull me to the ramp. I’ll run home get the trailer and pull the boat ....since it is so close to the end of the season.
Well that’s what we did $250 later and 6:00pm we were back at the ramp. Pulled the boat and back at home by 8:00PM.
Now I am disgusted on how the end of the day went I have a broken motor, I am out of the water; I missed the game that the Eagles lost and no wings!
Whatever….. @#% Happens!
The next day driving to work going over the situation again…….and again…..It hit me…… What would cause no spark on a motor that was running PERFECT 4 hours earlier?
I AM A IDIOT.... I called the Admiral had her describe to me what she saw at the helm….is the red spiral cord connected to anything? “Nope it is just hanging there”.
It was the emergency stop lanyard ….one of the lines must had wrapped and pulled it out.
I figure I can keep this to myself or share it and learn from the experience and possibly someone else may learn from my stupidity.

What I did right:
After realizing we were not starting the motor I got out of the channel and anchored. Some big stuff comes down that river and real fast!!!
Called for the tow before running out of daylight
Went thru basic troubleshooting Fuel/Spark
Did not decide to keep cranking until there was no battery left in case we needed Navigation lights to sail closer to home
Ordered my Wings way to early…..

What I did wrong:
Missed that the Lanyard was not in place ....
Did not have quality tools on board to perform a simple procedure like pulling a plug.
Expected the Eagle to win........

Live, Learn, and laugh.....
Remember....Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure!!!

Been there! Done that! Got the T-shirt!

I didn't get towed. I just stayed there till the next day and a guy stopped to check on me and spotted the trouble.

I should know better after kicking my leg off trying to start our 4-wheeler when a grandkid had turned the kill switch off.

And, how old are you?

Thanks for sharing Matt. Had something similar happen to me on the Sacramento Delta not too long ago. Posted on this site. I figure if you haven't had a day like that or haven't been caught in a storm, or just some sort of snafoo, you haven't done enough sailing.

Cheers,
Leon

Happened to me this summer, 50 hp Honda would not start, I was in my slip, So no emergency, I went to marina, but no one available, called Honda dealer(where I bought motor) no help. went home, and reread honda manual. I decided it had to be the kill switch, I had previously made sure it was pluged in, but went back to the boat, pulled out and inserted the kill key several times, started on first turn of the key. It was a good lesson, Now I guess I should have posted it to alert others, sorry.

Coastie I just hit my 40th and already had two hip replacements! Time seems to be flying by now...

In terms of handling a sailing emergency I would rate this 9 out of 10.

You did everything right - mitigated the immediate hazard (channel), made assessments of the situation, made a command decision that you needed help, executed same based on impending darkness.

Sure it was a stupid thing, but if a wire had fallen off under the engine cover you never would have found it and the same set of decisions would have been correct.

The trick to all this business is keeping a cool head, and not making decisions that aggravate your situation....BTDT!!!!

Oh yeah, been there. The one positive is that it only happens once, after that it 's always the first thing you check if you have motor trouble.

There should be a stupid mistake section on the discussion board

There is ..called

"Search all posts by Catigale AND containing "DOH!!!"

and dont forget to click on the "search all terms" button

I like to think of these things as "learning experiences" when I do them.
As in" well,now that I know that-I won't do that again!"

Otherwise I'd have to chalk them up to stupidity!

Hi Matt

This may seem a bit over top to some, but there is so much involved with the operation of our boats I think a check list is in order.

I have been involved in aviation my whole life, Dad was 20 years RAF and RCAF and I have been working in the field of aviation for over 20 years, and as a result I am very into SOP's/checklists/QRH's etc. I am also an acronym freak! A QRH is a quick ref handbook that is like a trouble shooting guide. I think having something like that onboard would be a good thing. There is simply too much to remember with our boats. Just imagine if you had a trouble shooting chk list that day. The engine kill switch would have been one of those chk itmes. Mine is still not hooked up properly, so would not have been a problem, almost makes me NOT want to hook it up now after your story as I surely would not have thought of checking it either.

Every time a plane moves, the pilots have chk lists that they use for everything, simply because there is too much to remember and they cannot afford to miss something.

Just a suggestion. Like I said, may be a bit over the top.

Glad everything worked out in the end and there was nothing seriously wrong with you motor. That is something I dread with my motor every time I am out with the family for extended periods. Last thing anyone needs is a major motor malfunction while on the water. But then again, that's why I love to have that backup engine "the sails" to get you out of trouble when needed.

G

Last thing anyone needs is a major motor malfunction while on the water

I made a big transition from beginner to intermediate seamanship this summer. I stopped thinking about my sails as fun things to put up and enjoy and started thinking about them as either my primary or secondary motor.

The learning lesson was coming through Canpitsit Channel on the Cape in heavy seas (6-8 foot swells) , coming about into a shallow, rocky channel, and having my engine warning horn going off at the exact point of no return. My sails were all neatly tied off so that they were 3 minutes from being deployable - three minutes I did NOT have.


Since then - all "sails of the weather"are ready to go at all times, just like the motor.

Yours for a fair tide.....

Matt19020 wrote: I AM A IDIOT.... I called the Admiral had her describe to me what she saw at the helm….is the red spiral cord connected to anything? “Nope it is just hanging there”.

Read your story and when I got to this part I laughed out loud and said something along the lines of I could see this happening to me. The Admiral asked what I was reading so I read it out loud to her. When I got to this part I may have well been speaking Cantonese from the reaction I got. So we had a quick discussion about what the kill switch is and how it works. Hope she never needs this info but at least she has it now.
THANKS for the story.

Just a quick note about engine kill switches on bikes, snowmobiles, PWCs, ATVs, etc.

If they are the type that you have to pull it back up to "run" , place an 0 ring under the lip so that when you push the button "in" to "stop" it will automatically pop back out to the "run" position. Some lanyards like on BRP products will only allow the engine to run at 2,000 rpm and sputter if the connection is compromised--it will start but not run.

Every boat needs a second motor. $500.00 dollars. Sails are sails. Don't rely on them. There are many situations where they will not save your chicken. It only takes a moment to be on the rocks.

I agree with the idea of having a check list.

bscott

Wouldn't the o'ring defeat the kill function and make it a stutter function?

Beene

Why don't we (you) begin a set of checklists and we can all have inputs and enjoy the results?

Matt

40 is too young to be senile. This could be a serious problem. Wait until old age hits, and then beware. My better half thinks I'm too old for sailing. I tell her I don't want to be sitting in a nursing home, tied to a chair, saying, "I wish I had gone sailing! I wish I had gone sailing!"