After the usual indecisive weather watching and weighing options we decided to catch a weatherwindow westwards. We set out through the pass with the last light in the evening and have had a very stable, comfy ride so far, doing 6 knots average downwind. Even the cat decided to sleep on the couch instead of heading to her sea berth (aka cardboard box on the… Continue reading »
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2019
20
Jun
2019
19
Jun
Article on Pacific Weather in Cruising World Magazine
This article is on the weather in the tropical South Pacific and we explain the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). Christian Feldbauer, Birgit Hackl: Pacific Highs… and Lows, Cruising World, June/July 2019. Now also available as free online version on the CRUISING WORLD web page!
2019
09
Jun
A forested motu!
We’ve been in Raroia now for almost a month, it’s a fabulous place and we’re enchanted by the many untouched motus and the large bird colonies. Now we’re down in the Southeast, which tops it all: Here the small motus are covered in shrubs, but the biggest motu has a proper forest with different leaf trees–the first remaining forest we’ve found in the Tuamotus–mainly pisonia… Continue reading »
2019
01
Jun
Article in ‘Yachtrevue’
We have an article about navigation with the help of satellite pictures in the May edition of the Austrian ‘Yachtrevue’. Christian Feldbauer, Birgit Hackl: Schau genau, Yachtrevue, Mai 2019, p.40–41.
2019
01
Jun
Tuamotu-Routine
While most cruisers hurry through the Tuamotus, we love to stay in one atoll and explore it thoroughly. Raroia is one of the most interesting places we’ve found so far in the Tuamotus with lots of untouched motus. So far we have found a large, racous sooty tern colony, a frigate bird colony and many white terns, noddies, red-footed boobies and even brown boobies. The… Continue reading »
2019
20
May
Pretty Raroia
We’ve been in Raroia now for a week and we love it here. Along the eastern side an endless chain of pretty motus stretches out along a minty shelf, it’s almost too kitchy to be true. The coral in the shallow water is quite healthy and there’s an amazing number of fish around. They’re not shy, so it seems that not many people go fishing… Continue reading »
2019
13
May
Raroia
Yesterday evening we left Nengonengo and are now approaching Raroia in nice conditions. 8 nm to the pass!
2019
12
May
Rekareka
We reached Rekareka this morning and have managed to anchor despite 15-20 knots of wind, about 2 m windseas from the E and a 2m swell from the S. It’s suprisingly calm (but still rolly) at the western side of this tiny motu and we have a beautiful view of lush motus with many palmtrees, but also lots of shrubs and leaf trees. Different kinds… Continue reading »
2019
12
May
Great forecast
We left Nengonengo this morning with what with thought perfect timing in the pass (and got crazy high standing waves) in perfectly stable weather conditions (no cloud in the sky, great forecast)–since noon we’ve had one squall per hour. Good sailing, too much wind, reefing down, rain, wind gone and the same again and again.
2019
10
May
Nature paradise Nengonengo
There’s a warning for high swell and therefore strong currents in passes, so we still haven’t left Nengonengo. Instead we did a snorkel in the pass yesterday, were sucked out high speed with the current, marveled at fat grey reef sharks, a big nurse shark, numerous white and blacktip reef sharks, napoleons and swarm fishies in incredible numbers–absolutely fabulous. We just had to be careful… Continue reading »
2019
06
May
Tropic Birds
Once we were anchored down we met the caretaker of the island, who lives alone here. His job is to guard the atoll, which turns out is private and belongs to the Wan family. They had a pearlfarm here which was closed 20 years ago, but the buildings still stand and the airport is also still in use (mainly for stop-overs of private jets on… Continue reading »
2019
28
Apr
Safely anchored
We made it safely into the atoll despite rough conditions in the pass and are anchored down for the nasty weather that is predicted. Just now a big black cloud approaches and announces the storm to come.
2019
26
Apr
Fish jars
Last night we were still slowly bouncing along, with flogging sails, but at least sailing. Just before sunrise this morning the long awaited wind finally set in, the skies cleared up and we were sailing briskly with 6 knots when a 1.5 m mahi-mahi bit the lure… We hardly managed to get the big guy up on our high aft deck. We always use small… Continue reading »
2019
26
Apr
Becalmed
People usually ask us if we’re scared of storms, but our main worry when setting out on a passage is usually that there won’t be enough wind. ‘Being becalmed’ sounds serene and in the Med we had indeed such days when the boat was just sitting on a perfectly flat sea. That’s like being at anchor, you can do whatever jobs are on the list,… Continue reading »
2019
25
Apr
Fish’n dips
Yesterday we had a fresh breeze and good sailing, caught a wahoo (our first fish since October…) and during the night we went more slowly, but still steadily ahead. Today we’re crossing a convergence zone, the N wind died down and we hope that the promised SE will soon set in. This afternoon we were drifting along under sails so slowly that we could have… Continue reading »