ende

Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Fotos der Eröffnung des Flughafens auf Woleai — February 16, 2026
  2. Pics of the opening ceremony of Woleai airport — February 16, 2026
  3. Life with Slipping Rib Syndrome — February 11, 2026
  4. Leben mit einer “verrutschten Rippe”, dem Cyriax Syndrom — February 11, 2026
  5. Unsere Eindrücke von den mikronesischen Frauen — February 6, 2026

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. 2 magical, but bouncy weeks on an uninhabited atoll — 8 comments
  4. Hilfsprojekte für Matuku — 7 comments
  5. Leeloo 2000–2021 — 6 comments

Author's posts listings

2020
07
Dec

Gorgeous Raivavae

by Birgit

Raivavae’s a gorgeous little island: tiny, with a spectacular mountain range, sheer cliffs and lush slopes. The lagoon is navigable, but rather difficult, because it’s shallow, very murky and a real maze of bommies. We’re good at navigating in coral-strewn waters, but coming to the NE corner feels like going through a mine-field, left, right, coral heads that come up almost to the surface lurk… Continue reading »

Leave comment

2020
05
Dec

Arrived in Raivavae

by Birgit

We reached Raivavae this afternoon with the gennaker pulling us along in a light breeze. What a view! Raivavae’s a seriously pretty little island Only one other sailboat’s here, we called the gendarmerie on VHF 16, let them know that we’ve arrived from Tahiti and will remain in quarantine on the boat for a week.

Leave comment

2020
04
Dec

Slow fairweather sailing

by Birgit

Yesterday we had the gennaker flying and it looks like we’ll need it again today in a veeery light breeze. 33 nm to go!

Leave comment

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.

Leave comment

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!

Leave comment

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!

Leave comment

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!

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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 »

Leave comment

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!

Leave comment

Older posts «

» Newer posts