The wind’s been a bit unstable, so we motored for a few hours last night, but now we’re rushing along nicely again doing 6 knots with 15 knots on the beam. 370 nm to go!
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2019
23
Apr
2019
22
Apr
heading out
We checked weather this morning and decided spontaneously to try a new, but a bit fickle window… We’ll leave soon, keep your fingers crossed for some wind for us
2019
21
Apr
Autumn weather
The festival ended last week with a torrential downpour that lasted a whole day–even locals claim they’ve never seen rain coming down with such intensity over such a long period. After that followed a week of perfectly calm and finally sunny and warm weather again… Yesterday a tempting weather window to sail to the Tuamotus came up–light northeasterly winds would allow a smooth sail with… Continue reading »
2019
20
Apr
2019
15
Apr
Penrhyn article in Cruising World April 2019
We have a few articles accepted for publication in the renowned Cruising World magazine, and the first one has now actually made it into the April issue. This one is about our stay in Penrhyn. Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: A Cook Islands Highlight, Cruising World, April 2019.
2019
13
Apr
Matapukurega Festival
There’s a 3 day long cultural festival going on in Rikitea at the moment. Groups from Hao (Tuamotus), Hiva Oa (Marquesas), Tubuai (Australes), Faaa (Tahiti) and even Rapa Nui (Easter Island) have arrived, events take place every evening and it’s great to see and hear the differences in their dances and choirs. The anchorage has filled up with boats, almost 30 are anchored here at… Continue reading »
2019
02
Apr
Summer’s coming to an end
This year the summer weather in the Gambier hasn’t been great and now it seems that it’s coming to an early end. The second mara’amu (strong southeasterly wind) is bringing chilly airmasses to us and a sniff of winter’s in the wind. We’ve been really busy between boat projects (e.g. we got new foam from Tahiti and redid our sofa including new upholstery), writing and… Continue reading »
2019
27
Mar
Cruising Info on Rapa Iti
Our little cruising guide on Rapa Iti, the southernmost island in the Australs, is finally on-line!
2019
27
Mar
Cruising info on Tubuai
We’ve put a short cruising guide for Tubuai in the Austral Islands onto our blog.
2019
16
Mar
Rainy weather program
This summer we get more windy and rainy weather here in the Gambier than usually. We don’t mind so much as we have plenty of jobs on our to-do list. At the moment the southeasterly’s blowing hard, but we’re tucked into a little, protected bay getting some work done. So far we’ve done engine maintenance (changed diesel and oil filters followed by a thorough bilge-cleaning),… Continue reading »
2019
28
Feb
Summer
The weather’s back to gorgeous summer conditions here and we’re exploring the more remote islands of the archipelago.
2019
20
Feb
Nasty weather
Just now that we have a visitor (my dad is here) the weather has turned unseasonably nasty in the Gambier. A trough with fronts, strong winds and lots of rain has kept us mostly on the boat for the past 4 days. There were 30 boats in Rikitea, which made life in the anchorage quite exciting when the boats were swirled around in gusts and… Continue reading »
2019
04
Feb
Cleaning
Ever since we arrived in the Gambier we’ve had perfect sunny, breezy and hot summer weather. We really needed these conditions after the rainy time in Rapa Iti–we had accumulated two laundry bags full of humid clothes (yuck) and due to the lack of circulation the interior of the boat was mouldy all over. We stayed out on the motus, spent a week doing laundry… Continue reading »
2019
25
Jan
Back in the Gambier Islands
After a squally night with a few thunderstorms we’ve just crossed the southern barrier reef of the Gambier Islands. We’re motoring against the wind and glad that we’ve arrived. The passage wasn’t smooth, but full of smoothies–we had a ripe stack of bananas and lots of yoghurt (thanks to a thriving Kefir culture), so we made banana-yoghurt smoothies twice a day