I was sailing along blissfully with nary a cloud in the sky. Somewhere in the middle of the lake, a sudden squall blew up, capsizing me and tearing my rudder out of it’s hardware. I was sailing a thirty year old sunfish, which is a doubly makeshift boat.
I managed to right the craft and pull the sail in and rehook it to the stay on the stern. I started to sail along and discovered I had no control over the boat. I realized that my rudder had come loose from the bottom bracket.
In order to get it back where it belonged, I had to remove it from the top bracket, which is held by a pin with a pin lock that holds it in place. The pin lock was bent, so I couldn’t release the rudder. Meanwhile, the wind is growing and the waves are getting rougher and rougher, and I am getting washed over every time a wave comes by.
I try to flatten out the pin lock with my fingers, but get nowhere. Then I try to force it to align with the pin so I can get the pin out, again with no luck. There’s nothing on the boat that is hard enough to back that pin lock with. Then I realize that I just got a new watch for my birthday—made of titanium. I was able to flatten the pin lock, pull out the pin, reseat the rudder in the bottom bracket, jam the pin back in to lock the rudder to the top bracket and then, again banging with my watch, swivel the pin lock so it locked the pin in place. I was thus able to allow myself to be blown home (downwind, fortunately).
My watch still bears the scratches from that adventure. I guess brass can score the titanium. I’m glad I had bought myself my birthday present, since it is not only titanium, but it is waterproof to 300 feet, and it has a slide rule! No battery needed, ever! A magic watch, indeed!