Pitufa.at

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

Finally we’re flying along with 7 knots in SE winds and we’re right on course. Unfortunately the grib shows NE winds for later on–that would be noserlies for us… We hope for the best, 110 nm to go!

Last night the wind finally switched to the SE and we’re on a direct course to the Gambier. 230 nm to go!

The Gambier Islands lie northeast of Rapa Iti, but so far we’ve only made miles to the east, because we’ve had NNE to ENE winds, so we’re making quite a detour… The forecast predicts easterlies and then southeasterlies so we hope for the best. 310 nm to go!

The squalls have passed, today we have light northeasterly winds, so we’re neither fast nor on course, but at least it’s calm enough for baking. We had fresh bread for breakfast and now the last nectarines from Rapa have jumped into a fruit cake 345 nm to go!

What looked like nice sailing winds at the grib file has turned out to be an annoying succession of huffs and puffs. We knew we’d have to expect squally weather with a passing low, but we still hoped that today’s sailing wouldn’t be quite as sporty. Puff, reefing, huff, sails out, puff, 40 knots, quickly reefing down again, huff, rain, almost no wind–it’s been going… Continue reading »

After a windy night follows a squally morning, we’re sailing close-hauled. 480 nm to go!

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.

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… Continue reading »