Why is it that we look for things to happen in threes?  Or stop counting after three, as in “testing, one, two, three”? Throughout the ages three is held in high regard in religious, spiritual, mathematical and daily life. Braids have three sections, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Holy Trinity; you get the idea. Three is also the largest number written with as many lines as the number represents.

Our dock neighbors, Todo Bien have completed their set for the summer. Was kinda weird how each successive event was more worrisome than the previous.  First event was a mystery visitor who opened the canvas and set himself down at the cockpit table for lunch, leaving lettuce scraps and faint scratches on the table. Like most people, they keep their boat, a Four Winns, tied stern-to at the dock for ease of entry and socializing. After that, I noticed the cockpit table top got stored below when they left the boat.

A few weekends later they headed out further than they typically go, to New London. They joked when leaving that if they didn’t come back, to come look for them. The trip out was uneventful; however the trip back became “event #2”.  The Thames was busy that day, the day after the huge fireworks display and Todo Bien somehow lost the use of one engine. Limping back toward Old Saybrook and the mouth of the CT River, they kept closer to shore to shorten their traveling distance.  Bad idea. Somehow they managed to confirm the location of a charted rock and that took out the second engine. Didn’t hole the boat though. SeaTow brought them back home safe and more than a bit shook up.  On Monday the marina work boat came to bring Todo Biento to the travel-lift well and a week later brought her back all shipshape.

Back home- finally.

The big question was, would they be able to get back up on that horse again?  Of course. Boat ownership is costly enough without letting yours languish in the slip.

The following weekend we see owners and guests preparing to head out, most likely to Hamburg Cove. Roughly two hours later the VHF comes alive with some frantic sounding words, the local Fire & Rescue crew comes hurrying down the dock and we see a power boat zooming into the marina, clearly not obeying the no-wake signs. But hey, isn’t that the Essex police boat behind them? Uh oh, sure enough Todo Bien is heading for the fuel dock, which has become crowded with marina and rescue crew, pump out boat crew and curious boat folk.

All hands help bring her in.

Russ goes to talk with Benj- POB waits to off-load

Turns out that the owner’s wife was not fully recovered from pneumonia and, well you know what can happen when you over-do it too soon. I’m sure that outing will remain memorable for all passengers for quite some time. As though to prove the “rule of three” stops after three, Todo Bien went out for a week to Mystic and Greenport (places we love), returning with no tales of woe; even the weather cooperated. Amazing.