What If Your Engine Fails???

What If Your Engine Fails

Imagine that you and your significant other have cruised to one of your favorite anchorages on Saturday; and have spent a delightful evening.  The next morning after breakfast you notice that the wind has piped up into the high twenties with gusts in the thirties.  AND, the wind will be right on your nose for the trip back to your marina.  Beating into strong winds and big waves doesn’t sound like much fun… so, you decide to use the trusty engine.  After all, that’s why you bought the iron genny for anyway.

With breakfast dishes done and everything secured, you start the engine, untie the lines and head for “home”.  You round through the bay’s narrow entrance and feel your first wind gust as the bow lifts on a large wave.  The wave plus the wind gust push the bow of your boat to the side (quartering the oncoming waves)  To counter the wind and wave action, you increase the throttle to nearly full speed ahead, turn the boat back onto its proper course, and proceed into the gathering weather.  After only about a hundred and fifty meters, the engine dies and the boat turns across the waves… drifting back toward the rocky shore.

Fortunately, the engine restarts quickly… but you notice almost immediately that the engine is sluggish and seems to bog down as you try to accelerate and turn back onto your course for “home”.  And, after running sluggishly for only a couple minutes, the engine again dies and the boat swings back across the waves.  A stronger gust actually heels the boat over to about thirty degrees on the next wave.  Again, the engine starts right up… but still isn’t running anywhere near one hundred percent.

What should you do?  What are the options?  Have you ever pre-planned for such a scenario? 

Of course, one option would be to try to get back into your secure anchorage.  But, with the wind and waves pounding into the narrow entrance (with its rocky shores), the maneuver would be tricky even if the engine were working perfectly.  If the engine died again while you were actually within the entrance, you might be washed aground on the rocks.

Another option might be to try anchoring the boat.  How are your anchoring skills?  With this strong wind and wave action, will your anchor hold?  Or, will the anchor drag - - again putting the boat on the rocks.  This may be when you reconsider the wisdom of saving money when you bought the minimum size anchor for your boat instead of spending more cash and getting a larger anchor.  How does the $20 to $50 dollar difference stack up now compared to the value of your boat… and potentially the lives of those aboard?

You could set sails and try sailing your way against the strong wind and waves.  What sails should be set?  Can you quickly hoist the mainsail?  Is the mainsail cover still on - - or is the mainsail simply flaked on the boom with a couple of sail ties - - ready to raise?  Can you hoist the mainsail in a reefed or double reefed set - - instead of trying to reef the mainsail after it’s fully hoisted???  What jib should you set.  In these strong winds would a storm jib be the best choice?  Are the jibsheet lead blocks in the correct position?  How much time is there to get everything ready, raised, and sheeted in correctly?  When was the last time you and your significant other talked about such a scenario?

Sailing is so much fun and so easy on nice light to moderate breeze days that we all tend to forget to plan for emergency situations.  The scenario described could surely be described as an emergency situation.  What are the Five-“P’s” of good sailing?  Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance……  Maybe it’s a good time to do a little bit of “what if” planning for situations that can (and do) happen.