Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Songster in the Springtime

It was good to be back on Songster in Marmaris but Mother Nature was not too welcoming. Our first week back onboard, on the hard, it rained. Then both Bob and I came down with the flu that just would not resolve for about 2 weeks. So we sloshed through the puddles and mud, climbed the 4 metre ladder to get onboard and generally huddled down unable to do much and feeling quite sorry for ourselves.

Dreary view from the deck

The sun finally came out. We dragged ourselves out of our sick beds still coughing and low energy to start the usual spring chores of painting antifoul on the hull and giving Songster a good wash and polish. We also got a new propeller. Our old propeller was getting very thin and was not quite the right size for the optimum running of our new motor. Not a major issue but we thought we would get it replaced while we were in Turkey and the Marvelous Marlin Men in Red could do the job. Finally it was launch day and Songster was looking quite smart.

Shiny new propeller

Getting ready for launching

The next morning, Bob's birthday, the Marlin engineers came to take the boat out into the bay to test the new propeller. All went well until they wanted to go astern (reverse to you Land Lubbers). The engineer puts the engine hard astern before Bob had a chance to center the helm (wheel) so the helm spins out of his hand and locks over hard. The boat was just going round in tight circles. We fitted the emergency tiller, a sort of long rod and bar that goes through a hole in the aft cabin deck and down onto the rudder quadrant. This allows us to helm if the wheel falls off or cables break . But this would not give us steering. The engineer donned my wet suit (he looked a lot better in it than I do!) and dove in to inspect the problem. The water is still freezing and he came up quite blue. He confirmed the rudder was jammed hard to starboard. Luckily we were away from the nearest shore and drifting slowly back to the marina.

We were out in the bay for a good three hours trying various ways of fixing the problem. A small sail boat came by and tried to tow us but did not have the power against our larger boat and a rudder hard to starboard. Then the engineer called up the cavalry in the shape of a rubber ducky to help tow us back. So with Bob in our dinghy pulling sideways and the other dinghy nudging the bow and the engineer giving small bursts of the engine we managed to get back onto one of the outer pontoons to await the diver who would don his frogman kit and take a look. But as fate would have it up comes the wind and no diver in his right mind will go under with the boat bouncing around. Stuck on a bouncing pontoon, Bob, being the hero, thinks that this situation calls for a mix of thinking and brute strength. He reinstalled the emergency tiller then put his back against the mizzen mast and feet on the tiller and give a mighty heave ho and sure enough it swung free - All fixed. We motored around to our usual spot on India pontoon (and on further inspection found that the chain that limits the maximum swing of the rudder had broken. This was easily fixed with a new bit of chain.

Bob was not a happy chappy after all this. He kept thinking what might have happened in bad conditions without the help of several good Samaritans and the engineers on board. But then we went to his birthday dinner with a small group of friends and it all became a good story over drinks and dinner. Everyone had similar stories and Bob became much more sanguine about it all. The birthday dinner was really lovely and a good time had by all. Our new neighbours, a lovely American couple, had come to the rescue and got a fantastic cake from town for the celebrations.