Coping with engine failures in strong tides

A mysterious mechanical problem leaves Simon Broadley and his young family sailing in 7½ knot tides with a new but unreliable engine.

We had changed the engine in Sirona, our Dehler 38, after losing faith in the previous one. Getting on for 30 years old, it still ran, but its death rattle was getting louder, its smoke blacker and over the five years we’d owned the boat we’d spent almost enough on it to buy a new one.

When the brand new engine refused to start, I dismissed it as a teething problem. The children were disappointed that we couldn’t go sailing but the weekend soon became a success. Bleeding an engine is a child-friendly job. There’s a lever that’s easy for small fingers to wiggle, there are bubbles to watch, and then the satisfaction of it purring into life. The magic was marred by the need to bleed it several more times as it wouldn’t run for more than a few minutes. We called the mechanic who repaired it once, and then again the next time we were at the boat.

The engine worked fine when we struggled to pick up a mooring off a bumpy lee shore, as we worked into Stranraer against a gale, and as we motored across a lumpy channel to Bangor. We were in Strangford Lough, where tides run up to 7½ knots, when the engine first faltered. I attributed its occasional hunting to the spectacular eddies teasing the prop. It took a few attempts to start on the pontoon at Portaferry, but then idled perfectly for a few minutes. All seemed well. We cleared the marina and headed for the sea, back north to meet friends at Bangor.