Pitufa.at

After a slow start we had 2 fast sailing days in a stiff southeasterly breeze. We had done enough easting beforehand to have a comfy angle all the way to Raivavae. We could feel the temperature drop with each degree of latitude south. It’s southern summer down here, but the night air is still cool enough to remind us that Christmas is coming

We’ve only made 70 nautical miles over the last 24 hours, but we’re not complaining, just baked some bread, worked on the laptops, dipped in from the ladder–almost like at anchor. Just now the breeze is picking up, 340 nm to go!

We’ve had beautiful fair-weather sailing, mostly doing around 4 knots, but with a few hours of 3 knots in between. Not fast, but comfy and we used the calm phases to dip into the ocean–firmly holding on to the swimming ladder. The feeling of several kilometres under your feet and the incredible dark-azure colour all around are quite impressive (on top of being very refreshing… Continue reading »

We have left Katiu at noon with the onset of a light breeze after a calm phase (which we used to explore the remote motus on the S side–some birds, but as many as we had hoped for). Now we are sailing down the SW side of the atoll, close enough to the reef to the see the red rocks in the water and to… Continue reading »

e did a daysail from Tahanea to the neighbouring island of Katiu–a place we hadn’t dared visiting before, because of it’s scary pass. We took the depthsounder with us in the dinghy to scout ahead, then we were still not certain whether we could take Pitufa in and snorkeled to take a close look at what might be lurking in the narrow channel. We memorized… Continue reading »

We were worried we’d end up with clanging sails in not enough wind, but we ended up having a fast ride in perfect 15 knots and sunny skies. We arrived in Tahanea yesterday at noon!

It looked as though we wouldn’t have any wind until the end of the week, but this morning we woke at 2, because the boat was pitching in a steady breeze. Rather than being uncomfortable at anchor, we thought we’d use the breeze to sail. So we quickly tidied up the boat, put the dinghy on deck (not easy in the dark while pitching) and… Continue reading »

Our usual advice to new arrivals in the Tuamotus is to arrive at an atoll in the morning and to watch the pass for a while to make sure that the conditions to enter are favourable (no wind against current, avoid the mid section of the pass where the current runs quickest, etc.). Of course we were going faster than expected (we did 6-7 knots… Continue reading »

We set out a bit too early yesterday and had a slow start (as it happens quite often), but soon the wind picked up and we’re doing over 6 knots with the wind on the beam in northerly winds of about 20 knots. We’ve picked a course in between the atolls that shades us from the waves, so it’s a comfy ride so far. The… Continue reading »