The Lonely Boat

Frank Pastor

Overcast, wind N, 12knts. Low tide with 1m waves at 3s so unsettled chop. We set the small jib and reefed mainsail which turned out to be a good choice. We beat northward for an hour through 1m waves, occasionally 2m smell from the west. We were the only sailboat out on Donegal bay. No dolphins or whales today. We tacked, fell off and did a broad reach back to the mooring. Anticipated difficulty picking up the mooring so had the outboard idling in neutral. While approaching on a reach, the wind shifted and headed us so I put the motor in forward. I bogged and died. With the breeze blowing us back I managed to restart and it died again. I adjusted the choke, restarted with a bit of throttle and managed to power back up to the mooring. Sara was great grabbing the float on the first pass. Need to sort out the motor before the next trip. I believe its fuel delivery problem as there was no back pressure in the primer bulb.