A short sail, and more engine problems

High water Port Rhu was at 15:45, so we had a relaxed morning, doing a bit of painting before it got too hot, then shopping, and doing laundry, which soon dried.

The last forecast I had seen showed almost no wind all week, but by the time the sluice gate opened in the harbour there was a good breeze blowing. Julian and I had decided to raise sail as soon as we were clear of the sluice gate and bridge. I was helming, and it all seemed a bit busy to me, with yachts leaving and entering Port Rhu, and a fleet of sailing dinghies under tow. None the less we got the main up, and were sailing even before we were passed Isle de Tristan.

I suggested a reef, as the helm felt heavy, but Julian sensibly pointed out that this was because we did not have the jib flying yet! He took the helm, and I got the jib out, and we started flying along, close hauled. We were done with engine, but pulling the stop cord had no effect, so Julian went below and turned the engine off by pulling the fuel cut off valve at the other end. 

We needed to go onto a broad reach, then gybe, to head towards Rosmeur which is hosting the Temp Fête this year, and Julian decided we would be better off reefed when broad reaching.

Once the reef was in Robinetta revelled in her new course, flying along at 5.5 to 6 knots. We had a gorgeous sail, only putting the engine on to lower sail once we were close to the moorings.

A harbour boat guided us to the correct mooring, then another helped us pick it up since it had no visible pick up buoy (it had got trapped and sunk). Once on the mooring we tried to turn the engine off as we normally would, by pulling the stop cord. It still would not budge.

Julian went below and shut off the fuel supply at the engine end again.

It was only mid afternoon, so we rowed ashore in Worm and registered for the festival. We got our wristbands, plus beer, cider, and three tins of local produce. There was even a jaw harp, two reusable beer mugs, and a programme "log" in English. Apparently they had printed 100 in English, and 700 in French!

Back on board Robinetta we had dinner, then Julian tried to get the stop cord to move. It would not budge at first, and when he did get it to move it did not pull the fuel cut off valve at the other end as it was supposed to. We last had this problem in 2014, just before we set off for Scotland. Looks like we need a new stop control.