Trouble

I've been working on the boat in a frenzy, so today I went out to test a few of the things I've been working on. I broke the traveler (which is a hard thing to explain, but it basically controls the Main sail on the boat) a while ago, and I've been working out fixes to that. Finally I thought I had something.... But no. So I put in my second fix in, the backup plan... That seemed to be holding. So I thought I would take the boat out into lake union to test out the traveler.
And I broke the tiller off. I stepped on it on accident, and its old and rotten, so it broke.
Let me tell you something, its scary to realize you can't steer. If the wind dies I can use the motor, if the motor dies I can use the wind, if both die, then I paddle or something, but if the rudder breaks, I'm in a bundle of hurt. It doesn't matter if I have power if I can't steer.
Luckily I was in lake union when it happened, because I was able to get enough steering to turn away from the houseboats and get out to a place where I could drop anchor and work on a replacement. Right now I have a pretty strong piece of wood that will do, but I'm looking for a nice looking replacement. Its really just a stick, so its a pretty simple thing.
But important.
I'm glad to get a lot of these breaking things done now, rather than later.