Well, it's official. The Christmas winds are out in full force. Too bad our engine isn't.The engine on Moonshine had been giving us some trouble before we left Nanny Cay on Friday morning. The man from Horizon Yacht Charters assured us that the issue was likely just a short in the engine alarm system, but he asked us to call in at the end of the day if we had any problems. We used our engine a lot yesterday and it got us through some very high, 8-10 foot breaking seas. No problem, mon.After a windy, rocky night at Marina Cay, we woke up this morning intending to sail to our next destination. But before we could put the sails up, we had to motor through the bay and a narrow channel. We left our mooring ball at 10:30 AM.Around 10:45, as we were preparing to turn towards the channel, we lost engine power. Jon finally figured out that he could keep the engine running if he kept the RPMs below 1800. So we fought the wind and the current as we turned back towards Marina Cay.At about 11:30, we were safely tied up to a new ball at Marina Cay. We called the Horizon charter office and relayed the issue. No problem, mon. They would send a guy out to take a look at the engine. At 1:30 PM, we spied a guy coming through the wind and the rain towards "Moonshine." Anil quickly tied up his large, inflatable dinghy, removed his bright orange lifevest, and climbed aboard to save the day.By 3:00, the engine was fixed. I don't really know what the problem was but Anil blew out the gas lines and replaced the fuel filter. And, he fixed the warning alarm system so it would only alert us if there was an actual emergency.By this time, we were starving and it was too late in the day to reach our intended destination. So we motored to another anchorage about a half mile away (with Anil following behind in case there were any problems). We're now actively looking for ways to improve our karma with the sailing gods. Perhaps I start using the term "solstice winds."
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