Our first night at sea was mostly uneventful. A few squalls to dodge, a couple of freighter to watch out for. But otherwise benign. Mostly!

It is 2am during my 12-3a watch that our engine suddenly but gradually loses RPMs. From 2,500 to 2,000, then just 1,500 and after a few minutes it drops and dies. Beep goes the alarm and I turn off the engine. The sudden total quietness! And JACE, carried by her momentum for a bit longer, is like a ghost ship in the middle of total blackness and silence. It’s cloudy so no moon and stars.

Brad is sleeping and I have an oh—shit moment because I honestly have no idea what to do. Nevis is maybe 5nm off our starboard and I find myself wondering if that’s a good (help is near) or a bad thing (drifting onshore with no maneuverability). There is hardly any wind and the sea is clam except for a gentle Atlantic swell.

But Brad is a pro and the sudden peace and quiet woke him. And I am glad he is here: he immediately suspects a clogged fuel filter. “You see, with our diesel tank being relatively empty and fuel sloshing around in there more, sediments get washed up from the tank bottom and get sucked in and end up fouling the fuel filter in a real hurry” (imagine his  beautiful South African accent).

So we go into the engine room, which after 12hrs of running is sweltering hot. Thankfully JACE has an easily accessible Separ fuel filter and even I know how to replace the filter element of which, thanks to Jeff, we have a nice little collection. Even from far away he keeps saving us time and again these days!

We get that done in just a few mins, bleed the line (to get air bubbles out) and – voilà – the engine is humming again and we continue our night flight.

By daybreak it is grey and dark with some rain and squalls. We’re not comfortable with how quickly the fuel level has fallen and don’t quite trust the fuel gauge. So we decide to do a quick “Q stop” in Guadeloupe under the yellow (letter Q in flag alphabet) quarantine flag which absolves us from having to clear into the country (France in this case). With two big yellow jerry cans we go ashore in search of a gas station. Better be safe!

Afterwards we go for a quick swim and check underwater and have breakfast. Then we are off again. It is still unusually calm and here in lee of Guadeloupe essentially windless. At the southern tip of the island we find an actual fuel dock and add more diesel.

Currently we are almost at our destination for today. The small “Les Saintes” island group just south of Guadeloupe, know for its gorgeous anchorages. The wind will remain nonexistent tonight but is supposed to start filling back in from the seasonal easterly direction tomorrow. So we decide to drop anchor, enjoy an evening here, rather than motoring through a second night.