After a squally night with a few thunderstorms we’ve just crossed the southern barrier reef of the Gambier Islands. We’re motoring against the wind and glad that we’ve arrived. The passage wasn’t smooth, but full of smoothies–we had a ripe stack of bananas and lots of yoghurt (thanks to a thriving Kefir culture), so we made banana-yoghurt smoothies twice a day
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2019
25
Jan
2019
24
Jan
Fast and on course
Finally we’re flying along with 7 knots in SE winds and we’re right on course. Unfortunately the grib shows NE winds for later on–that would be noserlies for us… We hope for the best, 110 nm to go!
2019
23
Jan
Finally on couse
Last night the wind finally switched to the SE and we’re on a direct course to the Gambier. 230 nm to go!
2019
22
Jan
Detour
The Gambier Islands lie northeast of Rapa Iti, but so far we’ve only made miles to the east, because we’ve had NNE to ENE winds, so we’re making quite a detour… The forecast predicts easterlies and then southeasterlies so we hope for the best. 310 nm to go!
2019
22
Jan
Bad for sailing, good for baking
The squalls have passed, today we have light northeasterly winds, so we’re neither fast nor on course, but at least it’s calm enough for baking. We had fresh bread for breakfast and now the last nectarines from Rapa have jumped into a fruit cake 345 nm to go!
2019
21
Jan
Sporty
What looked like nice sailing winds at the grib file has turned out to be an annoying succession of huffs and puffs. We knew we’d have to expect squally weather with a passing low, but we still hoped that today’s sailing wouldn’t be quite as sporty. Puff, reefing, huff, sails out, puff, 40 knots, quickly reefing down again, huff, rain, almost no wind–it’s been going… Continue reading »
2019
21
Jan
We write for Yachtrevue now
After eight years as writers and over 30 articles for Ocean7 a constant struggle with the new editor has induced us to swap to Austria’s biggest and most popular sailing magazine. Our new articles can be found in the ‘Yachtrevue’!
2019
20
Jan
Grey sailing day
After a windy night follows a squally morning, we’re sailing close-hauled. 480 nm to go!
2019
19
Jan
Leaving Rapa Iti
After more than a month we reluctantly leave Rapa Iti and our friends here. Unfortunately the second mooring didn’t work out, but the project goes on and more will hopefully follow! 600 nm to go to the Gambier Islands.
2019
19
Jan
Leaving Rapa Iti
After more than a month we reluctantly leave Rapa Iti and our friends here. Unfortunately the second mooring didn’t work out, but the project goes on and more will hopefully follow! 600 nm to go to the Gambier Islands.
2019
15
Jan
Crappy weather
2019 has started with seriously crappy weather here as the SPCZ (South Pacific Convergence Zone) is hanging over us and troughs and lows come our way that bring strong winds (the highest we saw was 40 knots) and torrential rainfalls. In the past two weeks we’ve had two sunny days, both of which we used for our mooring project. Apart from those working days we… Continue reading »
2019
12
Jan
Part 2 of our Anchoring Article in All-at-Sea January 19
Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Anchoring Games: Part Two–Techniques for Special Conditions, All At Sea Caribbean, January 2019, p. 36–40. Free download from allatsea.net.
2019
11
Jan
A mooring for Rapa Iti
The main bay of Rapa Iti is infamous for tricky anchoring. Cruising guides mention ‘dead coral rubble’ at the bottom, the bay is very deep (20-30 m) and uneven. Many boats have dragged and fouled their anchors and chains here. When we got here last year we found that large areas of the bay are indeed covered in live staghorn coral–especially the shallower parts that… Continue reading »
2019
10
Jan
Festivities
We’ve had a busy time here in Rapa Iti. The island community celebrated Christmas and New Years as well as a big wedding together and the cruisers were invited as well. Last year we were the only boat for a month here, but this year we had 5(!) neighbours, so we got our own cruisers’ table at the festivities The weather was fine in the… Continue reading »
2019
06
Jan
New article in Ocean7
Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Die kleinen Dinge des Bootslebens, OCEAN7 1 (Jan./Feb.) 2019, p. 48–50