All Hail Sea Tow

Motor sailing in very little wind, we were still humming along at 10 knots in the Gulf Stream, about 15 miles northeast of Fort Lauderdale around noon on the 5th of June. The plan was to put into Lake Worth for a good night's sleep about 5 pm and new house batteries the following day. Our batteries had started to fail. Each day wind and sun pumped us up, but by morning we were struggling at 60% capacity. As we were sitting in the sunshine discussing lunch, the engine went silent. No warning, just silence on the water. Our eyes locked. We sat looking at each other as if maybe it would magically start up again. Our speed slowed and slowed.

For the next three hours, Rick valiantly changed filter and  hand pumped fuel. The engine would start, cough, and die. Cookie worked the erratic whispy winds which moved from SE to NW in the general direction of Fort Lauderdale.. At one point, we were sailing backwards, pointed south, but floating north at 2 knots. In the meantime, weather had moved onto the Florida coast. We could see storms full of lightning moving across the distant coast to the north and the south of us. A major system was moving into the area. Finally at 3:00, about 13 miles from Lauderdale, we called Sea Tow. Can they even hear us out here? The answer is yes, and within an hour, following our AIS signal, they found us, and we are moving at 10.5 knots once again. This time attached to Sea Tow. Marinas were closed or wouldn't answer, oh except for the one that wanted $300 for us to tie up  overnight at their fuel dock! Sea Tow took us to the Las Olas Mooring field and returned the next day to tow us across the river to the City Marina in the driving rain. The rain stayed with us for most of the week, dumping 11 inches in one day alone.

Part II Friends to count on make life so much easier. John and Laura LaPoint passed on the name of a reliable mechanic. This turned into the perfect storm of engine failure. The immediate cause was the failure of the fuel pump. As it turned out this failure was fortuitous because hidden out of sight was a more insidious failure. Volvo Penta engines in 2003 were made with cast iron manifolds, and ours had deteriorated. Continued use and our entire engine would have needed replacing. As it was, we incurred a chain reaction. Somewhere along the line we either picked up bad fuel or had  our fuel deteriorate. the boat is used often enough that we never worried about it before. A huge growth first clogged one fuel filter, then the next, then the fuel pump burned out trying to cope. When it was all over, we replaced almost every external element of the engine because if you are already spending a dozen boat units and tearing apart the engine, you might as well do it all. Oh yes, and new batteries too. , and the installation of new house batteries. Ours were deteriorating fast. Each day, the wind and sun charges us up, but by morning, we were down to 60% capacity. We sat at the City Marina for almost a week. The mechanic was excellent. He knew all the secret warehouses with used and refurbished parts. He advised us on what to get new and found lightly used parts for the rest. He spent most of a week with us and saved us thousands with his low hourly rate and the used parts.Rick helped and watched and learned a lot. By the time the mechanic left, he was part of the family. We knew his life story....he was very chatty. We hugged and said goodbye at the end.

We also enjoyed our favorite restaurants in Lauderdale and shared meals with an old Friend from high school, Gay Holliday and with John and Laura LaPoint. Finally after 9 days, on June 15th, we departed Fort Lauderdale and completed an exhausting, but safe 48 hour sail to Dataw, a completely unexpected finish to our 2018 Bahamian adventure.