My final two Atolls in the Marshall islands= Rongerik and Rongolap.
Part-1-Rongerik.
Sailors Run was pretty much ready to depart Majuro the morning of the 26th of January 2019. The previous day I had completed the provisioning for the next month and hauled 100-gallons of water no easy task in 89* heat using 5-gallon containers and wheeling them two at a time from the water store 3-blocks away, and that only gets you to the dinghy and then out to the boat to lift them up on deck and dump them into the water tanks.
Departure day arrived bright an early at 5 am and time to jump out of the sack and get this adventure underway. Little did I know the start of this one was about to take on a very challenging twist.
I had previously cooked some chicken for tonight’s dinner making it a little easier on me this first day out. After eating a hearty breakfast of pancakes and eggs I was at last ready to climb out on deck. Scrambling up on deck I set about hoisting the mizzen sail and the main sail prior to slipping free of the mooring I was tied to. The plan was to sail out of the mooring field and considering that there were lots of boats close around I would start the motor just in case something went amiss. I reached down and turned the ignition switch and hear the engine turn over very slowly then grind to a stop.”Shit” You, have to be kidding me this thing started fine yesterday when I was checking everything out,”damn it”. What to do? Possibly the batteries are low because of light winds overnight and the wind generator had charged very little and here I’m ready to cast off with my remaining time in the Marshall’s growing short and I need to see more atolls and not be stuck waiting around for parts here in Majuro. I walked forward and untied the mooring lines and sailed to windward over Katy-G’s bow. Karen happened to be up on deck and bid me fair well and I waved like this was the plan rolling out the Genoa and sailing for the pass.
Now, you must realize these atolls I’m headed for are 340 nm. away and uninhabited for the most part and I must sail through tight passages with coral all around, and if I can’t get that motor started this all must happen under sail. This is all very possible but you might have to wait for days to get the right winds.
Oh well, I’m sailing in a great breeze of 15-20 knots close reaching “hauling ass” and pound out 171 nm. the first 24 hrs. I need one more big day like this and I will be at Rongerik and the projected winds look good for sailing in. On the second day when the sun goes down so does the wind and Sailors Run slows from seven knots+ to a mere 5-kts. and suddenly this does not look good for getting to the pass before dark. All of my attempts to start the engine fail, it just will not turn over. I get within 10-miles of the pass and have to heave to under main and mizzen and slowly drift overnight to the south another 10-miles from the pass. The good thing is I can sleep at last and get rested up for whatever comes next.