Engine trouble at sea

Amishai Mueller

So, we volunteered to be a chase boat for the traditional indigenous canoe sail from Guam to Saipan for the annual flame tree festival, oh and needless to say this was my first ever sailing experience. Using SeaPeople I was lucky enough to find Greg for my maiden voyage, a guy who's been sailing for the past 8 years on his 50ft Gulfstar. After we agreed I'd crew for him for an 8 day voyage from Guam to Okinawa he invited me to arrive a week earlier and join for this little appetiser too. I did not hesitate for a moment, realising this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We set off in the morning with the rest of the crew onboard and the traditional canoe called Ilawol already out at sea, we caught up to them and another chase boat and set off for Saipan, we were motoring for the first day and a half, had to go really slow at about 2.5kt which made the boat rock... a lot! Every now and then I'd spew the bit of the water I had tried to get down, or the crackers I nibbled on. We had to go slow as we were making food for the canoe and using our tender to transfer it to them. Those transfers were awesome, felt like being a part of some sort of seal team on a zodiac boat, being closer to the water also meant less sea sickness for me. Then in the middle of the second day as we were cruising along and I was at the helm, moments after finally getting my sea legs and regaining the ability to consume solids again... Poof, silence... Engine stopped working, straight away we all sprung into action, I'm proud to say I now know exactly how furl/unfurl the genoa, take a reef or raise the mizzen, we were finally sailing!!! This is what I came for! From that moment onwards it was up to the winds, at times strong enough and at the right angle that we were cruising at a cool 5.5kt, but sometimes at an angle that made us lose power and spin out once, eventually we got into our rhythm, sometimes faster and some slower, then around 3 am we made our approach for the shores of Saipan, hitched our tender to the side of the boat and used it's power to slowly coast in. With our eye on the depth reader and slowly coasting in, we dropped anchor. We made it. We then proceeded to get some much needed shuteye. I had a blast. Best part of the voyage in my opinion? That whole chapter after losing the engine, it really brought us all together and taught me so much in such a short amount of time, and yeah, waaay more comfortable to be sailing than motoring in the open sea 😂