Game Over

Saturday 9/8

We were making lemons out of lemonade.  With the wind too strong to continue out in the ocean, we decided to motor sail south along the intracoastal waterway.  We were making pretty good time under job alone with the wind aft of the beam, but the winding channel would certainly add many miles as compared to the straight line route in the ocean.  Still, progress is progress.

At one point, I decided to throttle up the motor since the wind had dropped and the boat had slowed.  An uprecedented plume of white smoke  gushed from the motor and I could smell burning oil.  This was clearly a reason to stop and figure out how to respond to this latest catastrophy.

Amazingly, we limped into a nearby nook inside the barrier island, and a gentleman from the next door yacht club saw our diapers and motioned us in to their dock.

Long story short, the members of the Brant Beach Yacht Club, and we talked with about a dozen, were uniformly hospitable, helpful, and knowledgeable.  They helped us find a mechanic whose diagnosis was the we needed to replace the piston rings, and that people often choose to replace the motor rather than pay for the major overhaul.  BBYC is kindly letting us stash the boat at a vacant slip for a couple days until we can pull her out onto the trailer and drive her home.

Sadly, our on-the-water adventure is over.  But if there is a bright side, it's that Elf will be safely out of the water and in my yard if hurricane Florence pays a visit next week.