Ever started out on a weekend boat trip, only to have your plans scuppered by a misbehaving engine? What do you do if you’re en route to your favourite spot for a little R&R on your beloved boat and the engine or the pump packs up? On a recent visit to the Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight, exactly this happened to me and my husband, sadly it was his birthday and we were planning a nice evening away. The water pump on our lifting keel sloop suddenly decided to stop working and instead of cooling water pumping out of the stern in its usual rhythmic tune, it started pumping into the cabin! Deciding it would be best to turn around and head for Cowes where we could get the problem fixed we changed our course. The tide had turned and was now on our nose and the wind had died. As a result of not wanting to push the engine too hard causing it to overheat and pump faster than I could bail out the cabin, we discovered that we were making no headway at all!

We decided to test out Sea Start and well within the hour we heard the comforting sound of the Sea Start rib bouncing towards us and our saviour of the day Billy turned up to give us a helping hand. Normally the best course of action would be to head into a port and find an engine specialist, but unfortunately these are in short supply after 12.00 pm at the weekend.

Billy was quick to offer advice on the next course of action. “Why don’t I tow you back to Cowes now, you can enjoy an evening out as intended and i’ll come and tow you out of Cowes in the morning, you can sail home on the tide tomorrow and we'll get a Sea Start agent to tow you through Portsmouth Harbour at the other end”?

Sorted, so we settled into Cowes Yacht Haven who kindly found us a berth at short notice due to our predicament and we were free to enjoy the evening ashore!

The following day Billy turned up as promised – “Due to the weather (not a breath of wind) it's probably best I tow you straight back to your home mooring". What a service!!, I decided to find out a little more about this company that we had been a member of for about 3 or 4 years....

Sea Start is not a new company, they have been around for about 20 years. They employ 6 people at the Head Office on Hamble Point and an army of Sea Start Marine Engineer Agents working on an ever-expanding area along the South Coast, and English Channel area. They operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week and 365 days of the year and they will attend moored alongside or up to 3 miles off shore from their designated ports. The aim of Sea Start is to get you underway as quickly as possible or tow you to a safe refuge if they cannot affect a repair, the service also stretches to fouled propeller clearance and all this for a very reasonable membership fee! Money well spent I’d say to provide total piece of mind, whilst out on the water!! Check out the Sea Start website.

In summary it doesn't matter whether you have just bought a used boat or a brand new boat, things can go wrong, but if you're on the solent and you belong to Sea Start, piece of mind is on hand!