1 Jan 2009 Happy New Year

As one year came to a close and 2009 came in we were motoring along the coast watching midnight fireworks on the land.  We toasted the New Year with a cup of tea and David in the engine room trying to work out what was wrong with Jackster.  The revs were going fluctuating wildly for no apparent reason.  We have a self-pitching prop which means the propeller changes it's pitch according to the environment to keep the speed constant.
 
I went off watch just after midnight and left David on the helm only to awake 30 minutes later to the deafening sound of silence.  There had been no wind all day, no sounds of sails being unfurled.  Just heart stopping nothing.  Jackster's engine had failed, or rather forward gear had failed.  We could propel ourselves backwards, but with 180 miles still to go that wasn't an option.  
 
For the rest of the night we tried to get some propulsion out of the sails and less than 1 knot of wind.  By dawn we were in the same spot.  Friends saw our dilemma and offered to head on to Samana and organise a tow for us.  Blue stayed alongside whish was a huge favour.  He was single-handing and needed to be getting on.
 
Richard through us a line at 8am and unselfishly towed us for the next 4 hours slowly towards Samana until a ferry appeared coming around the headland.  Amarige had made it to Samana and engaged one of the ferries to come out and tow us into port.
 
We bade a very grateful and sad farewell to Richard and accepted a line from the tow.  Not the most auspicious way to start a new year and I admit I was crying.  Sad that our friends were going ahead, a release of the emotions that I'd held in through the night and into the morning and sad for our poor boat.  I now realise that this was a minor incident. No one was hurt, Jackster was not holed or irreparably damaged and we'd get her fixed and be on our way.
 
Samana turned out to be a highlight of the DR for us.  The people were great, we met Steve Horwitz, an American with a yacht and an engineering business an hour away.  Steve turned out to be our guardian angel and a good friend who helped us immeasurably.  It taught us the lesson of what it means to belong to the cruising community.  To give help and time without asking for anything in return.  A rare commodity in this sceptical world.