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Ryan Foland Can Explain Everything

In the March issue of Latitude 38 Mitchell Andrus told us about Ryan Foland’s engine project on his Cal 34-lll Bingo 2, which hails from Huntington Harbor. Ryan’s become a real, hands-on owner, pulling apart the engine and putting it back together, which is why he knows so much and can explain everything. Even the photo below.

We sent Ryan a link to the story and asked if his engine was now purring along. He replied, “She sure is. Well, after I had to figure out how to replace the impeller when no water was coming out. But I did it. And just in time for a romantic Valentine’s Day harbor cruise on which we actually hit a shoal, and got stuck! And BoatUS couldn’t get us unstuck, so we had to wait four hours for the tide to pop her out. Hahhhaa! I swear, it is always something. But it is a Valentine’s Day neither of us will forget. There was even a drone capturing the footage, and someone forwarded me the video. Here is a screenshot.”

Ryan Foland Cal 34-3 Bingo 2
Ryan and Cyn had to find something to do while waiting for the tide to come up.
© 2021 Bingo 2

So how does he explain that? “I was making a wide turn around a derelict boat that was swerving, I followed a Duffy around this buoy, and when I did, I looked at it, and it said ‘SHOAL,’ and I was like, ‘Wait, that says shoal, that means …’ and that is when we came to a soft halt as our keel kissed the muddy floor.” As the saying goes, “There are three types of sailors: those who have run aground, those who will run aground, and liars.”

Ryan notes, “At least the boat looks good. And true romance is when things go wrong, and it’s all good!”

5 Comments

  1. jay lambert 3 years ago

    Maybe they should not have been seen on deck while they “had to find something to do” while waiting for the tide to come up….Valentine’s Day?

  2. Joanne Foland 3 years ago

    Beautiful boat!

  3. Fred Huffman 3 years ago

    I read with amusement my friend Ryan Foland’s description of his miss -adventure of running his Cal-34 aground in Huntington Harbor and his self-congratulations for his newly learned prowess at engine repairs.

    Some months ago I strongly recommended to Ryan that he buy Nigel Calder’s latest book on Diesel engines, which is a wonderfully written book and an invaluable reference for everything related to marine Diesel engines;
    I bet Ryan would gladly credit his success with his engine repairs to Mr. Calder.

    As to Ryan and his wife Cyn having to await high tide to float off that shoal: The almost sure way to tow a sailboat off a ‘mild’ grounding is to have the tow boat pull so as to heel the boat over, which raises the keel off the bottom so the vessel can move forward off the shallow area with her own engine.
    Use the best masthead halyard available (external spinnaker halyard with good strong block, shackle, and rope is best) to which you add more strong rope plenty long enough to allow the tow boat to get straight away abeam, well away from your vessel. It really doesn’t take a real tow boat to accomplish this feat, a good size Whaler or inflatable with a good outback motor should do the trick for a thirty-five footer. I’ve seen this work a dozen times on my own boats and others.

  4. milly Biller 3 years ago

    Love the photo !
    I knew a guy with a 90′ Halibut Schooner that was on Fish Patrol in Malaysia. When his stint was up he motorsailed for home but his Gimmy 671 blew a head gasket in mid Pacific. He calmly put her under sail alone and inframed his engine underway. He was quite a sailor.

  5. John Davis 3 years ago

    There are times when running aground has an upside.

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