Back at Sea

We got up early today. There was a delicious breakfast and finally hot coffee again! Wuhu! After that, we took care of the last little details before it was time to cast off. There wasn’t much wind, but we thought, oh well, let’s just go out anyway. Alex could throw in his fishing line, and maybe by noon the thermal wind would kick in.

Just to be sure, we checked the weather again (no storms on the radar, check!), set up the navigation, and finally cut the cable ties holding the mooring lines in place. Alex took the helm, started the engine, and as soon as it purred to life, I released the last line. Off we went!

We maneuvered between the other boats, through the channel, and out across the reef. Out on the open sea, the waves were already pretty bouncy, but as expected no wind at all. Alex cast his fishing lines… but just as he got comfortable, crack! one of his reels broke. He had to haul the line back in by hand. Luckily, the second reel held strong.

After a while, I started to feel a bit queasy, but hey, I was proud of myself for making it this far without medication. As long as I stayed lying down, I was fine. Lifting my head, though... yeah, not ideal.

Then, after an hour or two, finally some wind! We unfurled the front sail as a test run. But just as the sail filled, the wind died again. So, back in it went. A little later we tried again. By then we had decided not to sail to Moorea today. Dark clouds were hanging over the island anyway, so we thought we’d just enjoy some easy sailing and return to the calm harbor of Tahiti by evening.

We rolled the front sail back out and yay! this time it was filled with fresh wind! We were finally sailing again! Excited, we decided to hoist the mainsail too. I went to start the engine to help maneuver as the sail was being raised, turned the key, and... click. Silence.

Alex and I looked at each other. Another try: click. Nothing.
“Shit,” said Alex, deadpan. “It’s probably the starter.”

Apparently, giving it a few taps with a wrench can help wake it up again. Since I was too seasick to go below, Alex disappeared into his second home, the engine room. Tap, tap… nothing. Double “shit.”

Then began the troubleshooting marathon. Alex measured voltages while I steered the boat, making sure we didn’t cross any ferry routes. In my head, I was already drafting emergency plans. My favorite: as long as we had wind, sail far enough from the reef and, if necessary, just stay out overnight. The sun was already dipping low, maybe two hours until sunset.

Alex’s next idea was to bypass the signal from the ignition key. But then his head popped back up through the hatch:
“You won’t believe it. I’ve been working on the alternator this whole time, not the starter!”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah, I thought they might be built into the same unit. They’re not. But now I’ve found the real starter!”

“Then let’s give it a good hit,” I said.

A few seconds later, click… VROOOOM! The engine roared to life! A cheer came from the engine room, and I felt a little tear of relief roll down my cheek.

That was enough adventure for one day. We decided not to turn the engine off again, headed back toward the harbor, and Alex rolled up the front sail. Docking went perfectly, like we’d been doing it for years.

The sun painted the water gold. We blew up our tubes, tied them to the stern, grabbed a beer, and floated behind the boat, watching the sun sink into the sea.

What a day. What an adventure.

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