day sixteen - turtle envy*

Up early for a dawn departure.  Stow the sleeping gear, pack the boom tent on a pretty morning.  Quick run to the Blue Crab for a blueberry muffin and an iced tea.  Back to SPARTINA and get ready to cast off.  And the outboard won't start.......

I check the fuel and air valves, they are in the correct position.  Check to make sure there is fuel in the tank.  There is.  Change the spark plug.  Still won't start.  Decide to take a break, find some shade and do some research.  Come across a YouTube video of a guy completely rebuilding the exact same outboard.  Back to the boat.  Put in another spark plug.  Check the igniter.  Everything seems good.  Outboard still won't start.

I wonder if the trip is over.  Check the LYFT app on my phone and find I can easily get a ride back to Cambridge to get my truck and trailer.  Maybe that is what I should do.  Get a tow to the ramp in St. Michaels and haul out there.  I sit there trying to decide what to do.  A turtle swims by and I am envious.  The turtle is going somewhere, I am not.

By now it is lunch time.  Instead of calling for a car service I'll have lunch and think about it for a while.  A good lunch and back to the boat.  Run into a friend and tell him about my outboard problems.  Get into SPARTINA to show him what I have been experiencing.  Give the starting cord a pull and.....the outboard starts immediately.  I shake my head.  Cast off and motor out of the marina.

12:55 light shifting wind on the Miles River.  I drift back and forth across the river trying to catch a breeze.  1:25 the wind fills in, 3.8.  2:15 more wind and begin a series of tacks down the Miles.  

3:30 I can see Tilghman Point and Parsons Island in the light haze.  Tack to the Wye River.  Anchor down 4:30 in a nice little cove.  Dinner.  Try the outboard a few times and it starts right up.  

10.41 NM

* Once I finish the sailing log I will write about the outboard, including post-cruise work and tests.  The Suzuki 2.5 four stroke is an excellent outboard.  I used one for years and it was an outboard that never failed me.  After years of use I bought this new one.  If this particular outboard was a car it would be called a lemon.