Pitufa.at

After passing some squalls in the morning we had stable conditions all day long with Pitufa racing along doing 6 to 7 knots in winds of 15 to 20 from the NE. In such conditions the toe-rail is almost in the water and boat is jumping over waves and slamming into valleys–walking becomes a challenge and cooking an adventure, but the miles are ticking down.… Continue reading »

We had a fast sailing day yesterday and also steady conditions through the night, going close-hauled in NE winds of 15 knots. Now we are entering a zone with squalls again, not the ones that suck the wind away this time though, but the ones that accelerate it to 25 knots. 360 nm to go

After a fast sailing day and night we are now caught in an area with lots of squalls, so the wind picks up, shifts, then it rains and the wind dies down until it finally comes back and the same game starts all over again with the next squall… Very annoying. 480 nm to go!

We’ve been sailing in light winds all night, but further up there’s supposed to be more wind. 590 nm to go!

We never saw less than 20 knots from day 2 on, mostly 25 and always close-hauled… Now Rapa is ahead, just 30 nm to go! Pitufa was shaken and punched, taking off, slamming into waves, but she’s been doing really well. Only a window of our old sprayhood got punched in–resulting in some casualties in the garden before we could put some plastic and masking… Continue reading »

According to the forecast the wind is supposed to turn SW soon. It’s still blowing hard and the seas are quite rough. 120 nm to go

It’s blowing and we’re still tacking SW before going on a tack towards Rapa. Still 177 nm to go as the Christmas shearwater flies (not us, unfortunately)

Yesterday we were sailing under starry skies with the big light-wind gennaker blown up high, today we’re bashing into 20-25 knots from the SE and steep, high waves. 180 nm to go as the storm petrel flies, but Rapa is almost upwind, so we’ll need a few more to go there…

After a good first sailing day in fairly calm seas, the conditions will change today. A front and strong southeasterlies are ahead of us and Xmas eve is not going to be a silent one for us.