This occurred in August-Sept 2009, but its a good story, and one of incredible luck, I would like to document. We (Cindy, Annie, Lilly, Sally, Janie, and I) were just starting out on a week long trip into the San Juan Islands from our home port on Hood Canal, about 50 miles south. We made good time with wind and tides in our favor and made it to Watmough Bay by dinner time the first day out. W. Bay is one of the first places you find after crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca that offers good protection from the north, west and southerly wind. Once there, we loved it so much we spent two days and nights, enjoying great hiking and scenery. We planned to head out the morning of the third day. It was a beautiful late summer day and Cindy was making breakfast while I enjoyed some morning sun with my morning coffee. I sat there cockpit and for some reason reached over and gave the wheel a spin. And it spun, and spun. Even in my lazy-headed state, I immediately knew that was WRONG! Good God! I have no steering. Immediately, I pictured my rudder laying on the bottom of W. Bay. But then, no, it is supported on a skeg and could not possibly just drop off the boat. I had recently rebuilt the steering system (see earlier post), so my next thought was I had screwed up terribly. But wait, we steered the boat into the bay and anchored with full ability to steer the boat! We had not moved the boat in two days. Now I don't have steering? It made no sense. I don't recall the exact series of mental images, questions and thoughts, but it did not take long for me to realize that I had just crossed the strait of Juan de Fuca (20+ mile crossing of potentially treacherous waters and nothing around but rocky shorelines) only to lose my steering ability sometime while setting the anchor. That is the lucky part. 15 minutes earlier and we could have ended up on the rocky shore of Lopez Island or God knows where.

Here is the triumph. As I sat there bewildered and astonished at our close call, I thought: Okay, I can fix this. Having recently completely torn down and rebuilt the steering from the rudder post to the wheel, I knew how it worked. In fact, I marveled at what a simple system it was, being custom built by a previous owner, it was comprised of readily available parts: a u-joint, some shaft couplers, a couple of sprockets, a chain, something called a pillow block, and ...a few brass shear keys. It HAD to be one of the shear keys or a broken chain, I thought. This was a happy thought, because I keep extra shear keys and the old chain in my spare parts. I never leave port without all the tools I might need (or at least know how to use) in the event of equipment failure. I dismounted the pedestal and inspected the works. The chain was fine as it should have been--it is a new heavy duty chain under a fairly light load. I looked around and there it was, a piece of a broken shear key. One of the set screws had backed out a bit, allowing the shaft coupler to rotate against the key. Eventually, the key wore out and broke. It probably broke sometime during the crossing, but took a little while to slip completely out of the keyways notched into the shaft and coupler. I recall now that the steering had developed noticeable freeplay during the trip . Long story short, I had it apart and put back together in three hours. Boy, it pays to work on your own boat and know how your boat works. I always believed it. Now I know it. I am not trying to toot my own horn, but it is the only way to be self-reliant.

Postscript: I believe the aluminum steering pedestal will eventually have to go. It is showing substantial corrosion at the base. Though it may take another 10 years to weaken to the point of being unsafe, I will probably replace it with a tiller, the way the boat was originally designed. I actually look forward to steering her with a tiller someday.