The propaganda war against cruisers goes on in Tahiti. We saw in a magazine (Tahiti Pacifique) that after a horrible accident where a cruiser kid was killed by a speeding motorboat right next to his parents’ boat, not speeding in lagoons is critizised, but again the sailboats are blamed for ‘blocking channels’ and posing a risk?! The big anchorage off Marina Taina is (yet again)… Continue reading »
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2020
29
Nov
2020
29
Nov
Hot and humid
We arrived a week ago in Tahiti and went into super-busy mode immediately. Not on our to-do list (we have tons of projects with the things we ordered from the US), but with unexpected chores: We spent two days repairing the sail, one day repairing the kerosene stove, 2 days repairing our new(!) dinghy as the damn thing arrived with serious damage from the transport,… Continue reading »
2020
25
Nov
Gluten-free cruising
Ever since Christian had some health problems 5 years ago we’ve been cooking and baking gluten-free. In the beginning that was quite a challenge: I googled recipes and dismissed most because we couldn’t get the ingredients for them out here. I experimented a lot and found a few basic rules for gluten-free flour: – corn starch (available in minimarkets around the world) makes doughs hard… Continue reading »
2020
25
Nov
Miss Pfaff
We managed to get several metres of heavy-duty dacron material (some from a sailmaker after all others had refused to sell any, some from fellow cruisers–thanks!), got the sail down, stuffed it into the saloon and set to work. The photo’s not quite realistic, we didn’t have a third person to take the pic so you can’t see how Christian had to hold up the… Continue reading »
2020
24
Nov
2020
23
Nov
10 Fun Ways To Flood A Bilge…
Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: 10 Fun Ways To Flood A Bilge, All At Sea Caribbean, November 2020, p. 38–42. Download the whole magazine for free or read the online version of this article.
2020
19
Nov
Back again in Tahiti
We arrived in Tahiti last night after the breeze had died down–we had to motor the last few miles. It looks like we may get a weather window for the Austral Islands next week, so we’ll try to get all our chores done quickly before that. I have to visit my dentist, we have to repair our foresail and of course we’ll think of a… Continue reading »
2020
18
Nov
Gennaker
This morning the wind dropped to 5 to 9 knots and Pitufa was stumbling along goose-winged. We got out the gennaker–it took us about an hour until we had everything sorted out, quite a cumbersome procedure. Now Pitufa’s flying along under that huge blue-yellow lightwind sail and it’s so calm that Leeloo came up to check whether we’re already at anchor. Pitufa’s companionway ladder is… Continue reading »
2020
18
Nov
Almost like at anchor
We’re having a slow, but comfy ride. A bit rolly sometimes, but mostly like being at anchor. I’ve written two articles in two days and now I’m working on a ‘through the tuamotus’ gallery for our blog. Christian’s proof-reading my book and programming. Very different from our recent trips (climbing along walls, extreme cooking with ballistic ingredients, but mostly seasickish lying around, trying to hold… Continue reading »
2020
17
Nov
Comfy sailing
We’re having a smooth down-wind sail in light winds. We’re not doing much more than 4 knots, but it’s really comfy. Just now we’re passing through a little squall, it’s sunny despite the downpour and we’re sailing through a rainbow gate 175 nm to go!
2020
16
Nov
Underway to Tahiti
Cruiser’s plans are always written in the sand and the weather as well as outer circumstances dictate our itineraries. We set out from Tahanea this morning planning to sail straight down to Tubuai (Austral Islands). When we rolled out the foresail we saw that the leech line had ripped open the top half of the sail–sailing close-hauled the sail wouldn’t have its proper shape and… Continue reading »
2020
16
Nov
Our new Rutland wind generator!
Our old Rutland wind generator died after 11 years of faithful service in the Gambier last April when we didn’t tie it down during a 60 knot squall (our own fault, but the weather forecast had predicted nothing that violent, it was in the middle of the night and when we finally got up to save it during rain and storm, it was too late…).… Continue reading »
2020
15
Nov
Riding Squalls to Tahanea
In Tahiti the Covid situation is similarly serious as in Europe–the people put lots of effort into precautions in the beginning, but international flights brought in too many cases (interestingly enough mainly politicians and administrative staff, not tourists as expected). There’s a curfew now in Tahiti and Moorea, but inter-island traffic goes on and so more and more cases are reported from remote islands… Very… Continue reading »
2020
08
Nov
My historical novel
I’ve just finished writing a historical novel about the Tahitian women who were abducted by the mutineers of the Bounty when they set out to find a hiding place in the Pacific. The topic is of course well-known, but presented from a completely new angle with a modern, perky narrating voice. Writing the book was the easy part (just 120 000 words and two years… Continue reading »
2020
05
Nov
Hunting and fishing
In some remote places of French Polynesia there is still an abundancy of fish and clams on the reefs and coconut crabs hide on motus. The resources of such tiny eco-systems are very limited though and overhunting and overfishing is always a problem when locals do raids without much thought of sustainability. Cruisers sometimes go along with this ‘living off the land’ mentality and get… Continue reading »