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Birgit

Author's details

Name: Birgit
Date registered: September 22, 2010
Jabber / Google Talk: admin

Latest posts

  1. Oh-nein-Fischi — August 9, 2025
  2. Oh-no-fishy — August 9, 2025
  3. Empfehlung Hydrocolloid Pflaster — August 2, 2025
  4. Hydrocolloid Plasters — August 2, 2025
  5. Smurfy jetzt mit weniger Testosteron — July 31, 2025

Most commented posts

  1. The Matuku Marine Reserve and how it came into being — 11 comments
  2. Donations for the Marine Reserve in Matuku — 10 comments
  3. Hilfsprojekte für Matuku — 7 comments
  4. Leeloo 2000–2021 — 6 comments
  5. Survived! — 6 comments

Author's posts listings

2020
03
Dec

Lighter Winds

by Birgit

The forecast shows lighter wind, we hope it will not die down completely in us. 137nm to go.

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2020
03
Dec

Provisioning from Trahiti

by Birgit

The fast ride goes on. Still no fish, but we’re indulging in luxury food from Tahiti: for lunch we had a salad with ham (for Christian), with feta cheese (for me) and with ham and feta (without stupid green bits) for Leeloo 220 nm to go!

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2020
02
Dec

The miles are ticking down

by Birgit

With 15 knots of wind from the East and steady conditions we are rushing along with 6 to 7 knots. The water temperature has already dropped from 29.1° C to 28.3°. 269 miles to go!

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2020
01
Dec

Towards the Austral Islands

by Birgit

We are just motoring out of the pass S of Marina Taina–there’s not a breeze to be felt, but according to the forecast it’s blowing 15 knots out there. We just have to get away from the high mountains of Tahiti to find it… 390 nm to go to Raivavae!

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2020
29
Nov

Dirty Tahiti

by Birgit

The propaganda war against cruisers goes on in Tahiti. We saw in a magazine (Tahiti Pacifique) that after a horrible accident where a cruiser kid was killed by a speeding motorboat right next to his parents’ boat, not speeding in lagoons is critizised, but again the sailboats are blamed for ‘blocking channels’ and posing a risk?! The big anchorage off Marina Taina is (yet again)… Continue reading »

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2020
29
Nov

Hot and humid

by Birgit

We arrived a week ago in Tahiti and went into super-busy mode immediately. Not on our to-do list (we have tons of projects with the things we ordered from the US), but with unexpected chores: We spent two days repairing the sail, one day repairing the kerosene stove, 2 days repairing our new(!) dinghy as the damn thing arrived with serious damage from the transport,… Continue reading »

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2020
25
Nov

Gluten-free cruising

by Birgit

Ever since Christian had some health problems 5 years ago we’ve been cooking and baking gluten-free. In the beginning that was quite a challenge: I googled recipes and dismissed most because we couldn’t get the ingredients for them out here. I experimented a lot and found a few basic rules for gluten-free flour: – corn starch (available in minimarkets around the world) makes doughs hard… Continue reading »

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2020
25
Nov

Miss Pfaff

by Birgit

We managed to get several metres of heavy-duty dacron material (some from a sailmaker after all others had refused to sell any, some from fellow cruisers–thanks!), got the sail down, stuffed it into the saloon and set to work. The photo’s not quite realistic, we didn’t have a third person to take the pic so you can’t see how Christian had to hold up the… Continue reading »

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2020
19
Nov

Back again in Tahiti

by Birgit

We arrived in Tahiti last night after the breeze had died down–we had to motor the last few miles. It looks like we may get a weather window for the Austral Islands next week, so we’ll try to get all our chores done quickly before that. I have to visit my dentist, we have to repair our foresail and of course we’ll think of a… Continue reading »

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2020
18
Nov

Gennaker

by Birgit

This morning the wind dropped to 5 to 9 knots and Pitufa was stumbling along goose-winged. We got out the gennaker–it took us about an hour until we had everything sorted out, quite a cumbersome procedure. Now Pitufa’s flying along under that huge blue-yellow lightwind sail and it’s so calm that Leeloo came up to check whether we’re already at anchor. Pitufa’s companionway ladder is… Continue reading »

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2020
18
Nov

Almost like at anchor

by Birgit

We’re having a slow, but comfy ride. A bit rolly sometimes, but mostly like being at anchor. I’ve written two articles in two days and now I’m working on a ‘through the tuamotus’ gallery for our blog. Christian’s proof-reading my book and programming. Very different from our recent trips (climbing along walls, extreme cooking with ballistic ingredients, but mostly seasickish lying around, trying to hold… Continue reading »

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2020
17
Nov

Comfy sailing

by Birgit

We’re having a smooth down-wind sail in light winds. We’re not doing much more than 4 knots, but it’s really comfy. Just now we’re passing through a little squall, it’s sunny despite the downpour and we’re sailing through a rainbow gate 175 nm to go!

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2020
16
Nov

Underway to Tahiti

by Birgit

Cruiser’s plans are always written in the sand and the weather as well as outer circumstances dictate our itineraries. We set out from Tahanea this morning planning to sail straight down to Tubuai (Austral Islands). When we rolled out the foresail we saw that the leech line had ripped open the top half of the sail–sailing close-hauled the sail wouldn’t have its proper shape and… Continue reading »

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2020
16
Nov

Our new Rutland wind generator!

by Birgit

Our old Rutland wind generator died after 11 years of faithful service in the Gambier last April when we didn’t tie it down during a 60 knot squall (our own fault, but the weather forecast had predicted nothing that violent, it was in the middle of the night and when we finally got up to save it during rain and storm, it was too late…).… Continue reading »

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2020
15
Nov

Riding Squalls to Tahanea

by Birgit

In Tahiti the Covid situation is similarly serious as in Europe–the people put lots of effort into precautions in the beginning, but international flights brought in too many cases (interestingly enough mainly politicians and administrative staff, not tourists as expected). There’s a curfew now in Tahiti and Moorea, but inter-island traffic goes on and so more and more cases are reported from remote islands… Very… Continue reading »

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