Flash Back

On one of our walks recently we came across a young man trying to start his lawn mower. Judging by the look of the lawn it was the first time this season. As he repeatedly pulled the starter rope and adjusted the choke I was reminded of an outboard motor we had. As it is with most two stroke engines ours was difficult to start. Usually after they are warm they start easier. If I wanted to go some place without Dave I had to be able to start the motor. More importantly if he went some place with someone else I needed to be able to start it. I could put the dinghy in the water and lower the engine using the hoist but still could not start it. So that became my next goal. The comedy began. First Dave started it so it was not completely cold. Now it was my turn. I had previously attempted doing it like most do. That was sitting and pulling quickly on the rope. That had never worked even with a warm engine. So had to try something else. First I tried pulling with both hands. As I tumbled backward over the seat ending up on my back the comedy began. There I was on my back on the dinghy floor with my feet up in the air over the seat. Rather like an upside-down turtle. Did you know when you are laughing it is hard to sit up? Good thing Dave was sitting down or he might have fallen in when laughing. Finally got the engine to cough when I straddled the seat and pulled with my whole body. Now I was making progress. After a few more tries I did it! Okay now for the trial run. I took Dave to a friends boat where the guys were supposed to listen on the radio in about an hour in case we needed help. Their outboard was bigger and even harder to start so the guys wanted to take it to go diving. Off we went to our Spanish class. Landing on the beach was no problem since it was usually a two person process and we both were experienced. After class we both were determined to be able to launch the dinghy. Since we always launched stern first when in the harbor I was able to turn the motor and pull the rope while standing on the beach. Success! Much easier when I could use my legs too. We called on the radio just to see if the guys were listening. They were. They now knew they could go diving when we had our next class.