Craziness at Fawn Harbor

Yesterday was quite a crazy day, motor-sailing and sailing up to Fawn Harbor with 18-20 kts of SE winds and swells giving us the ability to bash our way up the coast, When we arrived around 3:00 at the dog-legged pass, ACappella was already anchored inside the bay, and Inspiration Lady was behind us wishing to follow us in, since we already had been there; we rolled up the headsails, centered the main, and tried to start dear Perkins. NO ENGINE !!!!Instantly we scrambled to put the sails back up and turn Sidewinder away from the reef and it seemed to take sooooo long before she was able to tack and head back the way we had come in. We tried the engine at least 10 more times, after David would test each of the possible issues, but no cigar. Luckily we got ourselves as far away from the reef as needed in order to try to figure out what next to do:  head back to Savusavu? heave-too? sell Sidewinder again? Ed and Gary, inside the calm bay, called on VHF and convinced us to turn around and they would come out in their dinghies and escort us in while we sailed in with the main up. On the way back, Capt David again set himself to finding the problem and he did, as he tested all the ground wires he had just recently set. Perkins came alive and by the time we got back to the pass, we motored our way in with gracious escorts just to make sure all was well. PHEW ! Holy Moly this is a risky life-style! There is weather coming our way tomorrow, with NW winds, so we are choosing to stay here for a few days. We just got back from going into the little village up the hill with our kava and enjoyed a wonderful welcome. There are hot springs in the area we will visit and many families who have already offered to take us there. It is lunch time on Sidewinder and all is well. Thank goodness, once again!