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2019
21
Jan
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 haven’t left the boat much and are desperate to stretch our legs. Wet clothes are accumulating and never get the chance to dry out, the whole interior of the boat feels damp and the cat is seriously bored and cranky. We haven’t experienced such a prolonged spell of nasty weather since Panama (2012).
The masses of rain that are falling are just incredible and the whole bay is murky brown–it’s astounding that coral can survive such conditions with tons of sediment and freshwater.
We are now attached to the new mooring(!!), we hope to set up another one this week and then we’ll hopefully soon find a weather window to sail to the sunny and dry summerweather of the Gambier Islands.
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 are inviting for anchoring as recovering fouled gear is easier in less depth.
As we usually try not do damage any coral we were horrified to have our chain grinding down the delicate structures. We thought that a mooring would be the best solution for that problematic situation and presented this idea to the mayor, who immediately agreed and got us in touch with Alexandre, the foreman of the community workers here. After some brainstorming and researching they started constructing a 2.4 ton cement block including rebars. During the holidays work stalled, then they had to order more parts from Tahiti, so the mooring wasn’t finished when we left. Returning this year we found the project still ongoing, but by then all parts had finally arrived and two blocks were ready to go.
The main problem now was how to deploy the heavy blocks as the island doesn’t have a working platform or barge. We built a raft made of 8 gasoline drums (welded together with a frame) and yesterday was the big day: Alexandre brought the blocks and rafts to the big quay with the truck and a nerve-racking experiment started.
After many attempts and near-disasters the block was finally in the shallow water next to the quay and we positioned the raft on top. The excavator lifted the block, we tied everything together and after some readjustments we were excited to see that the float carried the weight–only to watch it slowly tilt into a vertical position. Luckily it did not sink, but remained stable in that awkward position. What to do? In the end we pushed it more than a mile out into the bay with two dinghies (with the help of Mike and Shelly on Avatar–thanks a lot!) all the way worrying that it would sink before we could reach the marked spot.
We made it to the spot, positioned the block and sank the raft together with the whole mooring arrangement. Once it was down we cut the raft free that broached like a metal whale and afterwards we freed the chain, buoys and line–tadah: finished mooring!!
There was lots of working time (thank you, Alexandre!!), expensive material (sponsored by the Commune of Rapa Iti), sweat and adrenaline involved and there were quite a few moments when we nearly gave up.
Now there is a 2.5 ton mooring block with a 16 mm chain, 20 mm shackles and strong line available for sailboats in the bay of Huarei, Rapa Iti, that will prevent fouled chains and save the coral from damage 
GPS position: S 27°36.808′ W 144°20.034′
A second mooring will hopefully follow next week–we’ll keep you posted!
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 beginning and we did a few hikes, but then a series of lows moved over us bringing gusty and rainy weather, so we managed to get some writing done. Apart from that we spent quite some time finishing the mooring project we started last year (but more about that in a separate blog entry).
Today the president of French Polynesia arrives for a two-day visit, so the community has prepared yet another series of events and we’ll try to be there, despite the rain
2019
06
Jan
New article in Ocean7
Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Die kleinen Dinge des Bootslebens, OCEAN7 1 (Jan./Feb.) 2019, p. 48–50
2018
23
Dec
2018–A year full of adventures
For Pitufa and her crew, 2018 was a very exciting year. We visited many new places, some of them were rather off the beaten track and some were real nature paradises. We made several new friends with locals and enjoyed Polynesian hospitality over and over.
We started our tour in January 2018 from Rapa Iti in the Austral Islands and we are back in Rapa again, but we were active in the meantime and sailed about 4.700 nautical miles. First our round trip brought us to the Gambier Islands for the height of the cyclone season and then to our favorite atoll in the Tuamotus before we had busy times with plenty of boat projects in Tahiti and Raiatea.
With a newly painted Pitufa we left French Polynesia in July and sailed north to escape the colder winter months in the Southern Line Islands and in Penrhyn in the Northern Cook Islands, where we found an amazing wildlife. Then southward again to Manue, Aitutaki and Rarotonga in the Southern Cooks. After two months in the Cook Islands we left well provisioned and sailed southeast to the Austral Islands and hence returned to French Polynesia. On our tour through the Australs we only missed Rimatara, but we stopped at all the others: uninhabited seabird sanctuary Maria, geologically fascinating Rurutu, friendly Tubuai, beautiful Raivavae, and remote Rapa Iti with its unique culture and stunning landscapes.
Some destinations were quite adventurous and challenging, but we learned a lot, particularly anchoring on outer reefs. We spent many sleepless or at least uncomfy nights rolling and pitching in open anchorages, but it was definitely worth it: we had incredible wildlife encounters, met wonderful people and enjoyed stunningly beautiful scenery.
We wish all our readers merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and exciting New Year!
2018
20
Dec
Photos of our stop in Tubuai
Tubuai, Austral Islands
In October 2018 we visited Tubuai. We took a while to find a cozy anchorage, but then we enjoyed the hiking and the friendly people.
(24 photos)
2018
12
Dec
Back in Rapa Iti (Oparo)
We arrived in Rapa Iti at 9 in the evening yesterday and were glad that we could follow our GPS track from last year through the outlying reef maze into the big bay. This morning the bay was bathed in sunlight with the high, rugged mountains towering in the background–Rapa Iti (or Opara as the locals say) is a spectacular place.
In Rapa you have to make the most of sunny hours, because you never know how long they will last, so we washed all things that got damp and/or salty during the passage at 7 in the morning and had them dried and safely under deck by 11.
The officials came by at 9, not so much to check paperwork (they didn’t even want to see our papers), but for a coffee and a chat. Alain, the policeman, filled us in on news (not so many) and upcoming events (quite a few during the holidays), so we’re sure we’ll have a busy time here.
2018
11
Dec
Wet mattress
It’s been a grey, windy and rainy passage so far. Usually we have our aft cabin hatch open on passages whenever it’s not extremely rough, but because of the rain it was only a tiny gap open with a rubber mat covering the windward side this morning. Suddenly there was a a crashing sound followed by a loud whoosh–one of those waves that insist on being different than all the others had managed to break over the side, the cockpit was full of water and after mopping that up we found that the tiny gap in the hatch had let in enough water to soak our bed… That’s the first time this has happened in all our time on the boat and we have no idea how we should manage to wash and dry the huge, heavy and wobbly latex mattress…
2018
09
Dec
Difficult to say good-bye
We are getting ready to leave as there’s a weather window for Rapa Iti coming up. Yesterday we went to say good-bye to our local friends, so of course Pitufa got loaded up with fruit and veg… It’s very tempting to stay and spend Christmas here with them, but we should slowly make our way east as the cyclone season has started.
2018
08
Dec
Article on Anchoring in All-at-Sea Magazine
Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Anchoring Games: Part One–Material and Basic Maneuvers, All At Sea Caribbean, December 2018, p. 30–34. Free download from allatsea.net.