It started out like any other cruise to the San Juan and Gulf Islands: Load food for the trip, pack the cruising gear, as opposed to stripping it all out for racing, fill the fuel tanks with diesel for motoring, top off the water tanks, remember the passports, and shove off within 10 minutes of the guestimated time! And for the next 18 hours, all went as planned. Boogie up Budd Inlet, head up Dana Passage, motor under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, squeeze by Alki Point, close in because of rough water, and moor for the night at Elliott Bay Marina, followed by a lovely dinner at Maggie’ s!

It was the next morning when “the plan” forgot what was supposed to happen next. As we reversed out of slip India 33, we found we had no Reverse! And not much forward either! And lots of vibration! This is not good. So Steve rocked the boat back and forth, while attached to the cleats, I was a bit worried that they would rip off the boat, and the sounds seemed to normalize, and he did find reverse. Was it barnacle buildup again? We’ d had some removed by the diver a month ago and knew the prop paint needed renewing. Anyway, we got to the fuel dock, gassed up, nosed out of the marina, and found that the vibration was much worse, and rpm’ s were lower than normal. And we were looking at a 9-hour trip ahead of us to Anacortes.

Back to I-33. Many phone calls later, on a Saturday morning in beautiful Seattle, Steve finally caught a diver who could be there in an hour without charging an extra $ 300 for weekend work. We had backup Plan B of hauling out at Shilshole, just in case, but no mechanic until Monday, unless we provided our own. Oh well.

So now we wait for the diagnosis from the diver. A note in point: Steve almost packed his dry-suit, presumably for moments like this. Diver report: Our super-duper racing Kiwi Feathering Prop is missing a reversing roller screw! And two others are loose! Several more phone calls later, and a “thank you” for being able to surf the internet on board a vessel in a US Harbor, and we have located the US Dealership for Kiwi props at Marina Del Ray. This special roller and screw, made for this prop only, is out of stock, but is being shipped from Auckland New Zealand and will arrive any day at the dealer’ s. This is Saturday, and he expects it Monday or Tuesday.

So after considering finding a machine shop to make a duplicate of this very specially-engineered screw, on a Saturday in Seattle ... Ha! , the Kiwi dealer calls and says he’ ll pull some screws from a prop that he has in-house, and drop ship to Seattle for us! Yay! Fortunately, I have a niece in Edmonds who will accept the shipment, and deliver to us at the Marina. No, the screws can’ t be shipped directly to the marina address. We asked.

We are now officially stranded, albeit in a great place! Now, here comes the totally unexpected part, well, actually, all of this is unexpected or unplanned, anyway. Steve has talked for 25+ years about wanting a C& C sailboat. It’ s fast for racing, his desire, and nicely appointed for cruising, that’ s my half. That afternoon, as we wait to meet friends for dinner, whom we always mean to get in touch with but never get around to, we decide to check out the other boats at the marina. Trust me … all boaters do this! Then we see a listing for a C& C-110. Steve’ s dream boat ...

Naturally, we go check it out, as it’ s conveniently located 3 docks over at Elliott Bay. It’ s newer than our Olsen 34 by 10 years, rigged for racing, is two feet longer, and therefore has a little more room for cruising.

So should I start worrying? Maybe, yes, as this is as close to the dream boat as we’ ve ever seen. And the price looks good, having been dropped twice due to the soft market. The next day, Sunday, we are start evaluating potential sources of cash, even considering borrowing from Steve’ s IRA; not mine … he buys boats, not me. This is a little scary as we would have to sell Edgewalker, after it gets its new screw, and already have a weekend place up for sale with no takers, and don’ t really want to borrow money. Steve actually filled out a contract, which means he’ s really serious! But didn’ t turn it in, yet.

After sleeping on it for a night or two, and realizing that the C& C is way too nice to succumb to racing for the next two years until I can retire for more cruising, and Steve isn’ t’ ready to give up racing yet, we decided to pass this time. Putting in a new chart plotter, which he has also been eyeing, was much less expensive! Maybe refrigeration next year! Technically we have just saved over $ 100,000 by not buying the C& C. That’ s a good thing.

The first set of screws arrived the following Monday, and the same diver came to install them. Unfortunately, they were too small, and we had to wait for the expected shipment. There were no screws in the shipment, after all, so the order process started all over again! While waiting, we did a bit of touring, shopping, riding the buses and ferries, went to Vashon, out to dinner, and even sailed on someone else’ s 36’ C& C in the Thursday night Downtown Seattle Sailing Series. We won a door prize, too. The owners of our slip were kind enough to offer it at about half price while we were there, as they were gone anyway.

The correct screws did come in on Seattle Log Day #12, a different diver, there are about 8 different diving companies available there, came to install them, and we headed North in time to meet our Anacortes friends for dinner 12 days late. We will try to visit Canada again next year, but will add one final item to our check off list. We will get the propeller checked before we leave! !

By the way, does anyone want to buy an Olsen 34 sailboat with Hull No. 1? Just in case we see another C& C ...

PJ Peterson