FORWARD...NEUTRAL... REVERSE...

What would you do if you were driving down the highway and suddenly realized that your transmission wasn't functioning properly?

? ? ?

Something like that happened on board Exit Strategy last week during the last eight hours of a sixty hour trip to Bonaire. They had been sailing slightly southwestward for over two days from Boquerón,  PR.  During the second night out, while the First & Last Mate was on watch, an unusually large wave smacked Exit Strategy on the port beam and she shifted somewhat violently to the right.  The Mate was standing and looking at the  chart plotter at the time and the force made her momentarily lose her balance throwing the Mate, in slow motion, to the right.   Although she was not injured, the Mate landed on the throttle as she groped for a handhold to stop her momentum.

[Fret not, dear readers, we always wear a PFD that is securely tethered to sturdy jacklines especially on night watch to greatly reduce our chance of being accidentally catapulted off the boat.]

The vessel was sailing, so the engine was not running. The First & Last Mate thought nothing of her hand hitting the throttle because it is always in the reverse position when undersail to keep the propellor from spinning.

By mid morning the next day, the crew could finally see Bonaire through the hazey horizon in the distance.  In order to be able to reach their destination of Kralendijk's mooring field in daylight, they decided to fire up the engine and motorsail which would effectively enhance their speed.

The motor started right up, but the crew soon discovered that it would not shift into any gears.

Oh.   My.   Goodness!

 After sailing for fifty-three hours straight - sans hot meals and a normal nights sleep - the Captain's pent up emotions boiled over.  Within a fraction of an hour, the pot calmed down to a simmer and the Captain did what he does best. He began trouble shooting the problem.

Exit Strategy sailed on effortlessly while her crew focused on the fix.  The Captain partially dismantled the throttle and then went below to make some adjustments on the engine.  Finally,  he called for the motor to be started and instructed the Mate to shift the ďismantled throttle using two hands.

"FORWARD!

NEUTRAL!

REVERSE!

NEUTRAL!" He commanded- over and over and over.

It wasn't working well.  Sometimes it would shift and then it wouldn't.  The crew had no confidence in their ability to pick up a mooring in the busy town of  Kralendijk with vessels moored and swaying right and left and a seawall ahead!

So the Captain devised Plan B. Exit Strategy would sail around the tip of the island and then attempt to pick up one of its 100 dive sight moorings and sort the problem out.  They aimed for a site just north of the salt pier that the crew had visited two years ago remembering that the depth would suit the boat.

In the absence of other vessels and unforgiving seawalls, the obviously new pendant at the dive site called "Jeanie's Glory" was easily had.  It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon and the Captain immediately commenced working on a fix.

The First & Last Mate crawled through the starboard side aft cabin and into the storage compartment under the stern to remove a sundry of parcels containing extra equipment and parts.  Lo and behold!  This freed up the cables that connected the transmission to the throttle and the Captain was finally able to pinpoint the problem.  A tiny black plastic clip was missing from a cable connection.

You might expect that there would be one of those tiny black plastic clips somewhere in the multiple bags of parts that the Mate had just hauled out of the way. . .

                               But NO!

So the Captain sorted through his supplies and fabricated one from a remnant of plastic pipe.  He is such a resourceful and brilliant man!