I really don’t have a story about “saving” the boat by using the
sails. I mean we’re always using the
sails so if we ever got out of any tough spots, it was by the sails. A more meaningful question would be if we ever saved ourselves by using the
motor? But no, not that one either.
However a couple of years ago, before the start of a
race when it was totally calm and we needed to
motor to the starting area our
propeller dropped off. Completely. No forward motion when in forward
gear. After confirming that the
transmission was properly turning the prop shaft I dove over the side and it took only a glance to see…No propeller!
But the wind filled in and we were able to make the start and we sailed the
race.
Afterwards the committee boat, who was by then aware of our dilemma, asked if we needed some help.
“No, thank you, I think we’re OK” I answered.
Sailing into the slip was not much of a problem since we usually sail at least into the fairway before dropping the main and starting the engine. On that night we sailed into the finger piers, dropped the main about 4 slips away from ours, and sculled the boat into the slip, saving the day.