Running out of diesel

I have always been a little concerned about whether the E on the fuel meter and an empty tank are one and the same. I now know that they are not. We were returning from a weekend trip to Scituate. Winds were very light and we used the spinnaker most of the way into George's island. We then powered up and had an 1/8th of a tank of diesel for the last 5nm. Given that the tank contains 40 gallons when full you might expect we had at least 5 gallons remaining, which at 2,500rpm we know will provide 10 hours of motoring. So at a speed of 5kts and only 5nm to our marina we should only use 1/10th of our fuel budget. Sunday afternoons can be quite busy in the harbor - an understatement. We were at the narrowest part near the airport and suddenly engine noise stopped - and there was only about 4kts of true wind.

So we jumped into action, headsail came out quickly we turned 160degrees to get on a close haul so that we could make a little wind and have control over our position. We always carry spare fuel and at this moment I was a happy camper (skipper). We quickly added 5 gallons, then I went beneath to bleed the diesel lines. After two attempts and one tack the iron genny was running again.

We made it back to the marina, our friends (non sailors) departed and I don't think they realized potential severity of the situation. A sailing friend texted to me "Sea Tow was probably circling like vultures". Another example of being happy that I maintain Prairie Gold and understand many of the systems and how to fix, or at least jury-rig them.