And so it’s true, I am Ironman.

Drama on the high seas this morning… I woke up at 6.40am to say goodbye to Dennis and Steve as they head south to Norfolk in search of greater success with marine mechanics. Dennis has been pretty scathing about the boat yard’s work in repairing his faulty charging system, so he’s delighted to be heading off. Actually it’s pure coincidence that we met them at all, they arrived in Deltaville on Wednesday 26^th November to stop for the night and get some fuel. As Dennis pulled up to the dock his engine died, and it turned out his batteries were dead. Deltaville is a small place as it is, but on thanksgiving weekend you might as well be in Portglenone. Today, after a $1000 boatyard bill ‘so that I could fix it myself’ in Dennis’ words, they were making a break for Norfolk to find a new alternator.

So anyway… I met them at the boat at 7am and watched them cast off and head towards the marked channel and out into the bay. They were delighted to get away from Deltaville, their own personal Groundhog Day.

 

Free Spirit departs from Deltaville

 

Free Spirit sailing into the channel

I made some coffee and headed back to our boat to find Kel in the last moments of sleep. We talked about the lads, and the weather, and she suggested we switch on the VHF to catch a marine weather forecast. We tuned in, and after the forecast I randomly decided to tune to channel 16, the universal band for emergencies and hailing other vessels. By pure dumb luck I heard Dennis calling me on 16 saying that they had run aground in the channel and needed assistance!

 

Free Spirit run aground

I picked up the radio and began a garbled conversation, impaired by both static and adrenaline, discovering where he was and what he needed. Yesterday I’d worked on our new outboard and got it running for a short while before it conked out. Dennis requested I give it another go and get out to him to lend a hand – well, if Ironman was asked to rescue an innocent child from the arms of an evil dictator what would he do? Blow up an entire nation of innocents and then make sweet love to a beautiful lady probably, but at this moment the only explosives I had access to were petroleum and diesel, and Kel has long since got over my early morning advances…

I emptied the outboard fuel tank into a bucket, because I cunningly (and correctly) suspected fuel problems were at the root of my previous day’s failure. With a fresh tank of gas, and two spark plugs expertly pre-heated on our kitchen stove by Kel, I was off to the rescue in a cloud of oily smoke!

I arrived on the scene to find Dennis flogging his outboard to death and drifting in the channel alongside his boat. Later it transpired that he was simply out of fuel – to say it wasn’t his day would be an understatement. I picked him up and towed him back to the boat, before attempting to push the boat back into deep water with my dinghy, to no avail.

Dennis resigned himself to waiting for high tide in the hope that the boat would lift off the shoal. I headed back to Kel for a superhero’s victory party – the victory being the functioning motor, not the reclaimed boat.

Having studied the chart of the entrance/exit to the bay 10 times, not least because we have to do it at some time this week, and probably tomorrow, we got the pan on for some breakfast and opted not to venture out, contenting ourselves with more cleaning, some fuelling, and a little superhero baking…

…Dennis and Steve arrived back at the marina just after we put on some amazing cookies in a jar that you bake in the oven. America has of course given birth to a whole world of unnecessary shit, but Pillsbury’s Cinnamon Buns in a can, with real icing on, are not to be sniffed at. We fired up the oven and threw the pre-cut buns in the oven for the request 10 minutes, plus 50% for our dodgy oven.

I called down to the lads and invited them up. A couple of buns each, some tea and coffee, and the customary dissection of the aborted bid for freedom and the world felt better.

With luck, fate, God and Budda all in line Dennis and Steve will set sail in the morning, we’re going to head out in our dinghy to watch them off. Another fun day aboard Beannacht, and another day of steep learning. The simple challenges have been some of the best – get the outboard running, swap out the water pump, work out where the pots and pans fit in our limited storage. It’s a very satisfying life thus far.

And so Ironman shall go to bed after another wonderful evening with Don and Jill in Taylor’s, and once last crab cake for the road.