Training Day

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“You’re taking on water,” Jeff tells me. Water, like fire, tends to make boaters do one thing: panic. But it’s my responsibility to solve the problem. “Go through a checklist of the most common reasons to take on water,” Jeff says. First is forgetting to put in a plug. Second is an open or cracked seacock, or a leaky underwater fitting. Third is an exhaust elbow breached below the waterline, or a hole in the hull.

If it’s the plug or a failed seacock, find something to stick into the hole to stop it. Some offshore cruisers fashion wooden “bungs” to plug holes in case of an emergency — or shape plugs from sticky wax-ring toilet seals from the plumbing supply store. If it’s a hole in the hull, use whatever means necessary to plug it: seat cushions, spare life jackets, towels, shirts — anything to stem the incoming water to a rate slower than the bilge pump can handle.

And always remember this: “The best bilge pump in the world,” Gasiorek says, “is a scared guy with a bucket.”