Away but back again

We got away from E dock at noon but are now back at E dock, trip mileage today: 2 miles , one out and one back!

The summary for today, with all expletives deleted:

1. stowed all fresh food and off dock at 12:00
2. traversing the ferry lane/approach to the terminal
3. loud, strange sound from engine
4. shut off engine
5. raise sails to get to open water to troubleshoot
6. wind is light and swirling, i.e. not coming from consistent direction
7. cannot get boat moving
8. tide current is pushing us towards an island
9. large ferry is coming into terminal, we are in its path
10. large ferry gives us 5 horn blasts: nautical equivalent to "what the F#$% are you doing??"
11. try engine again: even worse
12. call marina for tow boat
13. tow back to E dock
14. George ( the guy i helped earlier in the week) finds mechanic on another boat who comes over
15. he confirms that the new starter is being engaged by the fly wheel; probably due to missing spacer at base of starter. Good news is that problem is not major issue with engine itself.
16. missing spacer is still attached to old starter; when I got new starter I wasn't told i'd need the old spacer ( new starter is different from old starter)
17. new starter removed ( yes I was back in the engine room)
18. new starter now at motor shop who will tell us tomorrow if it needs repair

So, we may be leaving tomorrow, or if not fixed tomorrow (Friday, ) then after long weekend.

Something else I have to check: appears that updates I am sending from my iPhone are not getting up on the blog....