One thing after another

enough, a brief press and the pump began its buzzing and gurgling sound. One very red-faced engineer. Luckily I was alone and could bluff that I had fixed it when there had been nothing wrong all along.

On the bright side I now have a spare pump motor. By Peter Tetstall Several years ago I took a crew of fellow police officers to join a race to Cherbourg. The yacht was chartered from Gosport but as there was no wind, we motored to Cowes. The next day we made our way to the start. The problems started when, releasing the main, we found the reefing lines jammed fast in the boom. I explained that I would not venture across the Channel with faulty equipment so we despondently abandoned the race and returned to Gosport.

A short distance from Cowes, the cabin filled with steam. Checking the engine I could see the alternator belt was broken. The engine was turned off and we were assisted into Cowes where Seastart replaced the belt but said the engine may not restart if turned off.

We sailed back to Gosport with the engine on tick-over. We may not have completed the race, but we were safe – or so we thought. As I liaised with the charter company on the pontoon, the engine’s fire extinguisher went off to complete the debacle.

It wasn’t quite the race we had planned, but being resilient cops, we took another boat and sailed round the Isle of Wight instead and after a few beers it didn’t seem so bad!