We wanted to leave Oare creek and take Valmik back to Conyer and invited our friends Pete and Terry to join us. So everything was in order and I put one of the outboards into reverse with the other in tickover. We went out smoothly astern and against the wind. I then needed to turn 90 degrees to head out the creek and avoid the other boats. So I spun my outboard 90 degrees and I gave it full throttle to spin us quickly, as it's full force was now perpendicular to the bracket it tried to slip off. I had not tightened the clamps tight enough and it ripped up some of the soft plywood bracket as well. I was now in quite a difficult situation with a half completed manoeuvre and a runaway outboard on full throttle with the propeller fully out of the water . I had also forgotten to lash it off to Valmik, so I was also in danger of losing it overboard. We were in close quarters to other boats and I had both hands on this outboard that was trying to jump off. I tried to slip it back on the bracket but as soon as the prop hit the water I was fighting four horse power going the other way, so back out of the water it went again. I was trying to remember how to shut it down but had to have a quick look around to check our position. I saw Kate, Pete and Terry all looking at me and wondering what was going on, Kate said don't worry we are not going to hit anything. I turned my attention back to this misbehaving outboard. Oh that is where the kill switch is. I shut it down. The other outboard engine was quickly put into gear and we were away.
HA ha, wow what just happened (I thought). Oh well lets focus on getting out of this shallow creek with out going aground again. As soon as I had the opportunity I readjusted the other outboard engine and cranked down tight on the clamps. Lesson learnt! I really like having two outboards on the transom. Because if one stops hopefully the other keeps going for a while for you to have a go at fixing the problem.
We had a really lovely afternoon out sailing under full sail in gusty airs. We were fighting a moderate strength tide and were actually sailing backwards between the gusts, which were infrequent.
I got Pete and Terry ashore and Kate and I had a lovely evening in south deep again. We got up very early and motored up into Conyer creek before the sun even started to light up the sky. When we approached the marina I shut down the loud Seagull engine and sculled us very smoothly into our mooring.
I love mooring up under oar, It is really special, It feels more natural than an engine.
Also people who have just undergone knee surgery can go sailing (hey Pete)!
Thats all for now
