Crisis Averted.

I have been working on a "life lately" post but that will just have to sit in my drafts for a few more days because I want to blog about yesterday while it is still fresh. This will probably be boring for most people, but I want to remember it :)

It was a beautiful day on the river--sunny and windy again! The river was really crowded with fishing boats, a sailboat race, and people out cruising like us. I get really nervous when the river is busy because in a sailboat you are a slave to the wind. At one point there was a sailboat filled with women coming straight for us. We had the right of way, but they weren't doing anything so we had to completely change directions and it totally threw us off. They were all glaring at us like we did something wrong. I definitely like it better when there aren't so many other dang boats!

The wind was really strong (gusting to 22 knots, steady breeze of 15-18 knots) which meant pretty intense sailing with lots of heeling. It's hard to take a picture of what the boat looks like when it is tipped over that much, because it would just look like I am holding the camera crooked. But if you've ever been on a sailboat as it heels, it can be pretty intense! Here is a picture to give you an idea of what it looks like...

Image via

You have to sit on the "high" side like the guy is doing in the picture and hold on! It is fun, but it used to scare me a LOT.

It is good practice for us to deal with strong wind and we actually had to put a "reef" in the mainsail-which basically just makes it smaller so the sailboat has less power. I never see people on boats as big as ours with only a 2 person crew--there are normally at least four people on board! So we keep pretty busy with just the two of us! 

When it was time to head back in we made a game plan for bringing the sails down since the wind was so strong. Everything went really smoothly and we were ready to turn on the motor and head to our marina (less than half a mile away). 

Our motor started right up and then died. Landon got it to start again but it died immediately and then we lost all power. Um can you say PANIC! 

As we drifted down the river we decided to throw in an anchor so Landon could try to figure out what was going on. Such a scary feeling to be in a river with strong wind and a strong current with no motor!!

Landon was quickly able to figure out the problem--we blew our fuses. He had just barely replaced them so luckily he knew right where they were and how to override them to get our motor started again. He amazes me!

We started the motor right up (yay!) and then Landon went up front to pull the anchor out. He told me to put the boat in forward and as I did the motor immediately died again. Not good.

At that point Landon came running back and asked me if any of our line (ropes) had fallen in the water. Line in the water is not good with a propeller--rope likes to get wrapped around the prop and kill the motor. That's when he saw the culprit... the rope for one of our sails (the jib) had come out of its knot and was pulled tight up against our boat, down into the water, underneath the boat, and around the propeller. Really not good.

Landon looked panicked at this point, which meant things were really bad. If the water was warmer, he could have swam under the boat and tried to untangle the rope--but the Columbia was 48 degrees yesterday and he would've gotten hypothermia. I was ready to call a tow-boat and fork out $500, but I should've known Landon had a plan.

First, he went inside the boat and tried to manually twist the prop shaft the opposite way. He was able to twist it around a few times, but he didn't have big enough tools to easily do it. Meanwhile the jib sheet was as tight as can be. I sat up on the deck, staring at the rope saying a silent prayer.

Landon came back up with a new idea to try and get the rope loose. He had just said a prayer too (I later learned). He was able to turn the motor on, quickly pop it into reverse and then put it right back to neutral before it died. He was spinning the prop the opposite direction and I watched as the rope got LOOSE. It was a miracle that the engine even started and that we were able to get the jib sheet untangled! As he pulled the rope up from underneath the boat, I couldn't stop screaming, "how did you do that Landon! How did you do it!" I gave him a huge hug as I cried with relief!

Most people who get a rope tangled around a prop have to get it towed (unless they are somewhere where the water is warm) and then hire a diver to go down and get it untangled. We are SO grateful that Landon was able to think of the idea to spin the motor in reverse and that our engine started long enough for us to do that. We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for His help. It is amazing how when we both stopped and took a second to pray, we were able to get untangled. 

It felt SO good to get the boat back safely to our dock. We both couldn't believe it.

Phew! Crisis averted.