So....Marty calls the recommended Volvo mechanic. He says "that engine, that year, a little fairy told me one thing is to check that nothing in the cockpit locker, like a life jacket, got tangled up or jammed against the back of the panel"....nothing was touching it at all, but SURE FREAKIN ENOUGH, Marty gets in the cockpit locker and JIGGLES THE BACK OF THE DAMN THING, and it clicks back into place and works again. I had a jumping-up-and-down stomping stamping fit on the dock. But HOW would one KNOW to do that????

In any case, it's fixed. It cost nothing. We headed north this morning and are back in Oceanside; tomorrow to Newport. Then either to Catalina or Redondo. Flat seas and almost no wind, we headed up w/ the mainsail up an motored all day. Saw a large pod of Risso's dolphins. Nothing else. What else can we do but laugh???