I did that
the engine has been serviced and purrs nicely and Matthew has tightened and strengthened our wobbly push pit railings. The weather has changed and its feeling like Autumn. We have just read and viewed pictures online about the severe flooding back home in the North East.
We are getting itchy feet. The last bill has just come in and southern climes are beckoning. Thought we'd have a practice manoeuvring the boat around the marina.
It didn't go well.
We started the engine and cast off. Forward, reverse, forward, reverse, the engine revved up but everything I didn't want to happen err did. I got a handful of reverse and then no control whatsoever !
Wind assisted and with lots of shouting (screaming more like) we careered into the fishing boat behind us. We still had the inflatable dingy on the davits and it was almost squashed flat! We rebounded off and the wind pushed us back towards the pontoon where Alison managed to jump on and tie up.
We were both in shock.
It turned out that the gearbox controls hadn't been tightened back up after the service.
To be fair the boat hadn't been 'signed off' by the yard yet. We were very lucky. The fishing boat wasn't damaged - told the owner when we saw him - no damage to our boat or us.
Our confidence is rather shattered at the moment. But we've decided to have another go tomorrow. 'Get back on the horse' as they say. I'll be checking forward and reverse while still tied up mind you.
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