ende

2022
01
Mar

Goodbye Rapa

Rapa’s a somewhat tricky place: difficult to get here, difficult to find a weather window to leave again, strong gusts in between, hardly any internet and the supply boat only calls every month or sometimes every two. We still enjoyed the wonderful mountains, the beautiful coral, snorkelling with the numerous galapagos sharks and the wonderful generosity of the islanders. Tongia maitaki Rapa (thank you in Reo Rapa). Today we leave with a weather window that’s not ideal, but we have to go to Tahiti, do some medical check-ups and prepare to leave French Polynesia. 660 nm to go!

2022
28
Feb

Eco presentation at school

Whenever we stay longer in a place I try to visit the schools and do a little presentation about sustainability and environmental issues. At primary schools this means mainly presenting some local wildlife and its “function” for eco-systems to explain why they are worth protecting. E.g. bird droppings are fertilizers for the soil and the lagoon, parrot fish are important as they clean the reef, sharks prevent diseases as they eat sick fish, turtles are worth protecting as they eat jellyfish and are getting rare, etc.
Quite often I feel like fighting windmills, when the little ones assure me that turtles taste delicious (even though stressed looking teachers then explain that nobody actually hunts them–as this is strictly forbidden) and the fish are there for humans to eat.
In Rapa things are different: the local environmental protection group Raumatariki is very active, sweets and everything wrapped in plastic is forbidden at school and even the youngest ones know that littering is a dreadful thing to do. Therefore the visit to the two classes here (the young ones from 6 on and the older ones up to 10 years) was a real pleasure. Katsumi and Jacqueline are doing a great job!

2022
25
Feb

A second mooring in Rapa Iti

A second mooring in Rapa Iti

In January 2022 we installed a second mooring for sailboats in the bay of Ahurei, Rapa Iti. Thanks a lot to the Commune of Rapa for sponsoring most of the material, to Alex (the chief of the firefighters) for working with us, to our friends Soraya and Thomas on SY Garulfo for all their work and to SY Pitufa for carrying the blocks! The mooring consists of two 750 kg blocks that are linked with 14 mm chain and a 25 mm rope goes up to the surface. It is well suited for yachts the size of Pitufa (41 ft, 12 tons) or smaller. It is located at S 27° 36,700' W 144° 19,872'. The mooring we installed three years ago is suitable for bigger boats up to 25 tons (S 27° 36,808' W 144° 20,034'. The moorings are not insured, but well made and regularly checked. We usually prefer anchoring to moorings, but in the bay of Ahurei you either have to anchor in deep basins with doubtful holding (25 to 35 m) or on bommies--all the shallower parts are covered in live, fragile staghorn coral, so picking up a mooring is the best choice! Please help checking and maintaining the moorings if you visit. The commune does not charge for the use, but donations to the mairie are highly appreciated.

(23 photos)

2022
12
Feb

Beautiful Rapa

The main bay of Rapa is protected from the long swell that comes up from the S and SW most of the time, but the other bays around the island are open to it. Last week the swell was down, so we took Pitufa exploring. We were rewarded with stunning mountain views, sheer cliffs and beautiful underwater landscapes. Anchoring turned out to be quite tricky, but we managed to manoeuvre into this tight spot between table coral.

2022
08
Feb

Toilet repairs

Toilet troubles are a cruisers’s nightmare. The plastic base plate of our Jabsco was cracked and we were worried that it would turn into an ejector seat on passage (just imagine the mess, YUCK!). Fortunately the part was on stock in Tahiti (at Ocean2000) and we spent a fun day dismounting and remounting the whole thing (disgusting, but fortunately not quite as bad as expected). As we were already at it we installed a new pump. All good now!

2022
04
Feb

Going Bananas! Article in Cruising World

Christian Feldbauer, Birgit Hackl: Going Bananas! What do you when the whole stalk of green bananas turns yellow overnight?, Cruising World, January/February 2022. Read the online version of this article.

2022
04
Feb

Birgit is on the cover of All-at-Sea magazine!

Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Passage Blues, All At Sea Caribbean, February 2022, p. 32–34. Download the whole magazine for free.

2022
04
Feb

New windows for our sprayhood

One of the old plexi windows of our sprayhood got smashed in on the rough trip to Rapa. We ordered a roll from Tahiti and spent three days replacing the windows. Not an easy task to stuff so much material underneath Miss Pfaff (our sturdy sewing machine). They turned out surprisingly wrinkle-free and now we have a panorama view again! At least partially–the garden’s back in place and blocking some of it…

2022
01
Feb

Testing the mooring in strong winds

The main bay of Rapa with its two villages is a windy place when it’s blowing from the east, in all other directions we don’t see steady winds, but strong gusts whirling down the mountains. This pictures shows Pitufa testing the new mooring in 45 knots… Local boats were still buzzing across the bay on that day, fishermen going out on the ocean–the people of Rapa are used to rough weather and considered this ‘blow’ a breezy summerday ;-)

2022
22
Jan

Friendly community

Only about 400 people live on Rapa. There is no airport and the supply ship calls only once a month, so the people rely mainly on their own resources and skills. When something needs to be done or fixed, everyone helps out. This generosity is also extended to visiting strangers. So far sailboats are still welcome here, but I suppose a single negative experience might also change the atmosphere here. We just hope that sailors following in our wake will also be respectful of the traditions and won’t take advantage of the generosity the locals show visitors.

2022
16
Jan

A new mooring for Rapa

Three years ago we built a mooring for sailboats with the municipality of Rapa, so visiting sailboats don’t have to anchor in the infamously difficult bay and will neither damage their gear not the beautiful staghorn coral. When we got back this year, we were happy to pick up our sturdy mooring and then we asked the mayor and community workers whether they wanted to do a second one. We brought out the two blocks with Pitufa and placed them on a 6 m spot in the bay, where it’s easy to check!!

Thanks a lot to…
…the commune of Rapa Iti for their approval and for donating the blocks and chain
…Alex (chief of the firefighters here in Rapa) for all the welding and bending and for spending all Saturday on the project
…our friends on SY Garulfo for their hard work and donated gear
…and last but not least to Pitufa for being such a sturdy and strong lady–she nonchalantly crossed the bay with the huge mooring blocks dangling from her bow.

The new mooring consists of two 750 kg blocks, 14 mm chain and 25 mm rope. It is located at S 27°36.700′ W 144°19.870′

2022
16
Jan

All good in Rapa

We got a few concerned emails, because there was a Tsunami in the Pacific (after an eruption in Tonga) and a depression over French Polynesia (with seriously bad weather in the Northern Austral Islands and in Tahiti and the Societies). Neither of those affected us down here in our protected bay in Rapa Iti.

2022
10
Jan

More Photos! We love the Tuamotu

We had hardly any internet access in the past few months, so those pics come a bit delayed…

Fishies, birds and smurfs--impressions of the Tuamotus

We spent 3 months in the Tuamotu archipelago, found some fabulous wildlife off the beaten track and explored atolls we had not been to before.

(47 photos)

2021
31
Dec

Pics of our rough passage

Some impressions of our passage to Rapa Iti:

Rough passage to Rapa

Rapa, the southernmost island of French Polynesia, lies outside of the tropics and the weather's a bit rougher down there. To sail there from Raivavae we picked a window with NW winds in the beginning, then we knew we'd have to sail through a front with SE winds, before arriving with SW winds. The short trip of only 300 nautical miles took 4 days, because we had to tack into strong headwinds.

(10 photos)

2021
27
Dec

What a ride

We never saw less than 20 knots from day 2 on, mostly 25 and always close-hauled… Now Rapa is ahead, just 30 nm to go! Pitufa was shaken and punched, taking off, slamming into waves, but she’s been doing really well. Only a window of our old sprayhood got punched in–resulting in some casualties in the garden before we could put some plastic and masking tape over the hole. We have quite some cleaning to do when we arrive.

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