"Three Hour Tour"

Wisdom dictates that a shake-down cruise is a smart thing to do before heading too far afield from home port.  We felt fairly confident that things would go well and invited our friend Rob to join us for a trip to Cypress Island, a short distance from Anacortes.  We connected the battery for the dingy so it would be ready to use once we reached our destination; and in doing so, we discovered that the terminals needed cleaning and new electrical connectors installed.  Our guest, Rob, was put to work and the job was completed.  We departed in fair weather reaching Cyprus Island without any major issues with "Got d'Fever."  However, when we got the dinghy down and shoved off, we soon discovered that the dinghy's steering was inoperable, sending us in circles! Thank goodness for the oars.  We rowed to shore, took a short walk on the island and then rowed back to the boat, hoisting the dinghy back aboard.  Lesson confirmed, be sure to do a shake-down cruise on the "other boat," namely the dinghy that may need to serve as a life raft.  Next morning, we headed back to Anacortes to drop off our friend for his curling match and we started making repairs on "Hot Flash," an appropriate name for the dinghy.