1st Time on the Hook!!

Well, we can officially say, we have anchored out now! .....Although, being anchored out while waiting for TowBoatUS to come and tow us back in to the marina is not quite what we had in mind for the first time we were at anchor. :/ 

The day started good, but the 'just my luck, story of my life' quickly took over... My sister, BIL & my newest niece {she's 8-weeks old & oh so cute!} had come in for a visit. We had planned to take them out sailing, but the weather had other plans. We waited & waited and finally decided we would at least motor out and show them around a little. We made it out to Kemah Boardwalk and, albeit briefly, the sails did go up.....and that's about when  the bottom fell out, so to speak, of course! 

The wind wasn't really blowing, we were all hungry and they needed to head back soon so we decided to go back so we could go out to eat. As we were headed back from the boardwalk, Joe noticed there was no water coming out of the exhaust and the engine was getting a little warmer than where we like it to be at. 

Joe went down to investigate and I stayed at the helm and slowly steered us back toward our marina. I quickly became the idiot in the channel going far too slow and in everyone's way. I guess it had to be someone....maybe next time I won't be so quick to call that person a moron. :) 

Joe said there was no water coming up to the engine from the through hull. So, he dropped anchor while I made the dreaded call to TowBoatUS. {NOTE: it was only a dreaded call because we had yet to become members(I was planning on signing us up the following week)...isn't that how it always works??} and it was going to cost us a boat-load{no pun intended} of money for the tow and then the cost of repairing the engine. 

After 30 minutes or more of waiting and still no sign of the tow boat, and with a storm headed our way Joe couldn't sit still any longer and went down to see if he could repair it with the parts we had on the boat. He found a plastic bag covering the water inlet. After removing the bag, water started gushing up inside the boat{good thing he didn't tell me (& our guests) until after we were back in our slip and they had gone home} All was fixed,  so I called TowBoatUS back and cancelled the tow. 

So glad it all worked out and yes, we are now members of TowBoatUS....just in case there's a next time!! :/