I'm a positive person. :-) It was a fun sail.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"katy" wrote in message
...
Capt. JG wrote:
Here's a synopsis of Excalibur's maiden voyage from the yard in SF to her
new home...

The maiden voyage was interesting... single-handed her from SF South
Beach Harbor to Richmond. Engine started fine at the dock, so I raised
sails and headed up toward the Bay Bridge. Near the bridge, the wind
died, so I go to start the engine... nada... not even cranking, nothing.
After some preliminary checks, like do I have juice, fuel, I called the
yard where she had some engine work done (tune up, oil change, and the
like). Oh, it's not our fault, maybe you're out of gas (no), maybe you
don't have her in neutral (no neutral safety switch on this boat -
something to think about adding). Come back, and we'll look into it... of
course, it's a good hour or so in such light winds, and guess what they
close in 1/2 hour.

Frustrated, I called the former owner, who couldn't think of any reason
this would happen. Never happened to him in 10 years. Must be a
disconnected wire, but he's busy at work, and the manual is in my car
(note for later, put manual on boat). Called the yard back... they said,
oh, maybe we forgot to tighten the wire to the starter solenoid.
Unfortunately, I have no idea where this wire is. Fortunately, not much
vessel traffic where I'm floating, so I heave-to to a starboard tack
(give myself at least some status), open up the engine compartment, and I
go upside down inside the engine, one hand on a cell phone dying battery,
flashlight in my mouth, trying to listen/talk to the yard so their
"mechanic" can direct me, the other hand trying to reach the stupid wire.
Finally, found it, tightened it, and then she started no problem. Oh
yeah, and they didn't reconnect the low-oil and temp alarms either.

Got past the bridge, the wind picked up, so killed the engine and started
sailing again. Got about 20 kts steady wind the rest of the way, mostly
port tack. Finally had to jibe to avoid a tug/barge coming out of the
Richmond area, and the rest was easy, even did a passable job flaking the
main before I got to the dock.

Did you really think that a maiden voyage was going to be uneventful? How
naive, Jon. G;ad you made it to harbor safely.