Pitufa.at

It’s a pleasure to sail across a calm lagoon on a sunny day, but yesterday’s trip from the northernmost point to the pass area was quite exciting. Sailing close-hauled in quite some wind (around 20 knots) we were dodging bommies and of course a fish decided to bite just as the wind was gusting up a bit. Now we’re anchored next to the northernmost pass, the fridge is full of fish and we’re looking forward to do some snorkeling in the 3 passes over the next few days.

We’re enjoying our time in Tahanea, moving around the atoll according to the wind and spending the days with a nice balance between boat projects and fun like snorkeling, kayaking and long walks along the motus.
At this time of the year a big fleet of yachts passes through the Tuamotus. We see some of them on the AIS, hear them talking on the VHF and on the SSB net we’re on (PolyMagNet 8173 kHz at 18:00 and 4:00 UTC), but most of them spend only a few days here and never explore beyond the pass area and the popular SE anchorage, so we still have our favourite places just for ourselves

The downwind passage from the Gambier to Tahanea with quite a windy start put lots of strain on the material. We bent a stanchion and one of the genoa poles actually ripped the pole track out of the mast (a 15 cm long bit, we could still use the other pole). Christian has already cut out the bent bit and will move the remaining piece up to get it fully functional again.
The garden under the sprayhood also suffered some damage. For the first time ever we got some salty spray in and both the thai basil and the basil died from ‘salt burn’. The bok choy has fully recovered from the 3 m plunge dive into the galley though
In the evening we had a beach BBQ with old friends (Ednbal and Raynad) and the other 3 boats that have anchored here in the SE corner to sit out a maramu (SE wind). It’s amazing how busy the Tuamotus are at this time of the year when the fleet sailboats rushes through French Polynesia on the way across
the Pacific towards New Zealand.
The downwind passage from the Gambier to Tahanea with quite a windy start put lots of strain on the material. We bent a stanchion and one of the genoa poles actually ripped the pole track out of the mast (a 15 cm long bit, we could still use the other pole). Christian has already cut out the bent bit and will move the remaining piece up to get it fully functional again.
The garden under the sprayhood also suffered some damage. For the first time ever we got some salty spray in and both the thai basil and the basil died from ‘salt burn’. The bok choy has fully recovered from the 3 m plunge dive into the galley though
In the evening we had a beach BBQ with old friends (Ednbal and Raynad) and the other 3 boats that have anchored here in the SE corner to sit out a maramu (SE wind). It’s amazing how busy the Tuamotus are at this time of the year when the fleet sailboats rushes through French Polynesia on the way across
the Pacific towards New Zealand.

:de_start “Reparaturen”

Der Vorwindtörn von den Gambier nach Tahanea mit einem recht windigen Start hat das Material ziemlich beansprucht. Wir haben eine Relingstütze verbogen und einer der Genuabäume hat tatsächlich die Schiene für den Baum aus dem Mast gerissen (ein 15 cm langes Stück, wir konnten den anderen Baum nach wie vor verwenden). Christian hat das verbogene Stück bereits herausgeschnitten, wird die Schiene versetzen, sodass sie wieder voll einsatzbereit ist.
Der Garten unter der Sprayhood hat auch gelitten. Zum insgesamt ersten Mal ist etwas Gischt so weit gekommen und hat das Thai Basilikum und das Basilikum ‘verbrannt’. Der Bok Choy

This morning we arrived at the pass of Tahanea after a very slow nightsail (we didn’t want to get there during the night). At 8 the pass still looked quite impressive with high standing waves (wind against an outgoing current), so we sailed up and down with 3 lures out hoping to finally catch a fish. After 2 hours the pass calmed down, so we went in–unfortunately without the tuna we had hoped for…

The wind is still holding out, we did a daily run of 150 nm–a fabulous speed for Pitufa (downwind isn’t usually her thing) and were still comfy enough (despite waves of still about 3m) to bake bread. 210 out of 660 left!

Yesterday the sun came out and we were happy to be able to dry out our damp foul weather gear, the wind got lighter and we optimistically rolled out the genoa, but then it died down completely and we started the engine to stop Pitufa from rolling in the still high and confused seas. While sailing we use the windvane to steer Pitufa, but when motoring we turn on the electric autopilot. This time it went beep, beep, beep and refused to steer… I grudgingly started handsteering, while Christian started to search for the problem. Luckily it was quickly found: the remote control in the cockpit had drowned in its locker.
As soon as the autopilot worked again the wind came back, first from the NE, then the SW and finally it backed to the SE again and we’ve been swiftly sailing all night long.

It’s been squally with winds around 35 knots gusting 45 since yesterday, torrential rainfalls add to the general misery on Pitufa. A shitty trip so far.

After 5 months in the lagoon it took us two full days to get Pitufa back into passage mode. In our case that doesn’t just mean clearing and organising, but also repotting and securing the garden. It seems we didn’t do such a good job, because the Pok Choy did a plungedive through the companionway and into the kitchen leaving an epic mess just when we were sailing through a squally area with gusts over 35 knots. Happy cleaning with the help of seasickness meds followed.
Now it’s morning, the wind has settled down to about 15 knots and we’re nicely sailing along.