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Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Römisch-katholisch Anlegen — August 11, 2025
  2. Med-style mooring — August 11, 2025
  3. Oh-nein-Fischi — August 9, 2025
  4. Oh-no-fishy — August 9, 2025
  5. Empfehlung Hydrocolloid Pflaster — August 2, 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

2019
26
Apr

Becalmed

by Birgit

People usually ask us if we’re scared of storms, but our main worry when setting out on a passage is usually that there won’t be enough wind. ‘Being becalmed’ sounds serene and in the Med we had indeed such days when the boat was just sitting on a perfectly flat sea. That’s like being at anchor, you can do whatever jobs are on the list,… Continue reading »

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2019
25
Apr

Fish’n dips

by Birgit

Yesterday we had a fresh breeze and good sailing, caught a wahoo (our first fish since October…) and during the night we went more slowly, but still steadily ahead. Today we’re crossing a convergence zone, the N wind died down and we hope that the promised SE will soon set in. This afternoon we were drifting along under sails so slowly that we could have… Continue reading »

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2019
23
Apr

Huffs and puffs

by Birgit

The wind’s been a bit unstable, so we motored for a few hours last night, but now we’re rushing along nicely again doing 6 knots with 15 knots on the beam. 370 nm to go!

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2019
22
Apr

heading out

by Birgit

We checked weather this morning and decided spontaneously to try a new, but a bit fickle window… We’ll leave soon, keep your fingers crossed for some wind for us

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2019
21
Apr

Autumn weather

by Birgit

The festival ended last week with a torrential downpour that lasted a whole day–even locals claim they’ve never seen rain coming down with such intensity over such a long period. After that followed a week of perfectly calm and finally sunny and warm weather again… Yesterday a tempting weather window to sail to the Tuamotus came up–light northeasterly winds would allow a smooth sail with… Continue reading »

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2019
13
Apr

Matapukurega Festival

by Birgit

There’s a 3 day long cultural festival going on in Rikitea at the moment. Groups from Hao (Tuamotus), Hiva Oa (Marquesas), Tubuai (Australes), Faaa (Tahiti) and even Rapa Nui (Easter Island) have arrived, events take place every evening and it’s great to see and hear the differences in their dances and choirs. The anchorage has filled up with boats, almost 30 are anchored here at… Continue reading »

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2019
02
Apr

Summer’s coming to an end

by Birgit

This year the summer weather in the Gambier hasn’t been great and now it seems that it’s coming to an early end. The second mara’amu (strong southeasterly wind) is bringing chilly airmasses to us and a sniff of winter’s in the wind. We’ve been really busy between boat projects (e.g. we got new foam from Tahiti and redid our sofa including new upholstery), writing and… Continue reading »

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2019
27
Mar

Cruising info on Tubuai

by Birgit

We’ve put a short cruising guide for Tubuai in the Austral Islands onto our blog.

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2019
16
Mar

Rainy weather program

by Birgit

This summer we get more windy and rainy weather here in the Gambier than usually. We don’t mind so much as we have plenty of jobs on our to-do list. At the moment the southeasterly’s blowing hard, but we’re tucked into a little, protected bay getting some work done. So far we’ve done engine maintenance (changed diesel and oil filters followed by a thorough bilge-cleaning),… Continue reading »

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2019
28
Feb

Summer

by Birgit

The weather’s back to gorgeous summer conditions here and we’re exploring the more remote islands of the archipelago.

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2019
20
Feb

Nasty weather

by Birgit

Just now that we have a visitor (my dad is here) the weather has turned unseasonably nasty in the Gambier. A trough with fronts, strong winds and lots of rain has kept us mostly on the boat for the past 4 days. There were 30 boats in Rikitea, which made life in the anchorage quite exciting when the boats were swirled around in gusts and… Continue reading »

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2019
04
Feb

Cleaning

by Birgit

Ever since we arrived in the Gambier we’ve had perfect sunny, breezy and hot summer weather. We really needed these conditions after the rainy time in Rapa Iti–we had accumulated two laundry bags full of humid clothes (yuck) and due to the lack of circulation the interior of the boat was mouldy all over. We stayed out on the motus, spent a week doing laundry… Continue reading »

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2019
25
Jan

Back in the Gambier Islands

by Birgit

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

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2019
24
Jan

Fast and on course

by Birgit

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!

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2019
23
Jan

Finally on couse

by Birgit

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

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