We almost made it this time...

Leaving our Marina in Sandusky

Well things started out well yesterday morning at the start of our journey over to the Erie Canal.  Once we hit the Lake, Erie that is it all went to ...... well you get the idea.  The forecast was supposed to be waves 1-3 which are a little rough for us but nothing we can't handle.  What they really turned out to be was more like 3-5 which our little round bottomed boat does not handle with much grace.  She bobs, weaves and rolls like CRAZY.  After about 30 minutes of this and the fact that the wind was about our stern blowing the diesel fumes right into the flying bridge I (the first mate) started experiencing her first ever boat with motion sickness.  It was not pretty.  I visited the head several times and when I finally thought I could handle it came back up to the flying bridge.  Only to have Mike tell me that one of the engines had died.  Oh lordy was all I could think.  He proceeded to tell me he needed me to watch the helm while he went below to see if he could get the engine started again.  I said the only way I could do this was if he brought me the trash can because I was still feeling queazy. So he brought up the trash can and then went below with his headset in tow.  I had mine on hoping that if I needed him to come back up he would hear me.  Hah!  What I didn't realize is he had to take his off while working on the engine.  Luckily Mike had installed the auto pilot last week so the boat was running on that, which was a good thing because I made good use of the trash can he brought me. After about 15 minutes which to me the seasick sailor seemed like a lifetime he returned and told me he couldn't get it started and we would have to get over to Lorain with one engine.  Which we did, he then proceeded to put in anot

her 3 hours into troubleshooting the problem.  Still nothing worked.  God Bless that man because the engine room was hot, smelly and just a miserable place to work in.  We decided to make our way back to Sandusky and our own marina in hopes that we would be able to get the issue resolved.  We made it back with no problem and now will wait till Monday morning when our maintenance shop opens.  Patience and perseverance my mother once said and this week has certainly put us to the test.  

The Captain at the helm

It didn't look to bad here at the break water.