Harnessing the horses [300 words, ~1 page]

It's been an unbelievable year. I won't go into most of it because it sucked -- until fairly recently.

The capable, kindly, and inspired folks at Ship Shape Boatworks (phone 925-395-3616, email ssboatworks@live.com) rebuilt my motor bracket, reinforced the stern, hooked up my outboard, and (after an adventurous Saturday when I left my slip but not the harbor) scrubbed my hull and replaced the propeller and all its retaining hardware. Then the guys took the boat out with me to make sure everything was really going to hold, now.

Neil (early 30's) and Stewart (10-11) are absolutely fearless. While Neil was locked in battle with the carnivorous barnacles on Voyager's bottom, Stewart told me about sailing his 12-foot dinghy from Richmond to San Francisco's Aquatic Park -- that's straight up the craziest part of the Bay -- in 20-knot winds. In his mind, it was an interesting exercise in boating dynamics, since his main concern was to keep the boat from plowing under the waves and doing a headstand, and to get a moment to pump out the water when it was nearly up to his hips.

I grinned from ear to ear. My kind of people.

We fired up the engine, which didn't take long. I experimented with the speed that gave me the best steering, without being faster than I can react to. (A narrower window than I'd like, but I'll adapt.) We swizzled out of the slip (it's a very narrow fairway, there) and got safely past all the other boats and out of the harbor. The engine smoothed out as she ran, until she purred like a 2-stroke kitten -- in a big deep barrel. 25 horses make quite a sound.