ende

Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Baba Bertie! Mehr Solar und Induktionsherd… — August 19, 2026
  2. Bye-bye Bertie! More solar and induction stove… — August 19, 2026
  3. Fotos unserer 3 Schiffskatzen! — August 5, 2026
  4. Pics of our 3 ship’s cats :-) — August 5, 2026
  5. Neue Crew: Minnie Mouse und Squeaky! — August 4, 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

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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2019
22
Jan

Detour

by Birgit

The Gambier Islands lie northeast of Rapa Iti, but so far we’ve only made miles to the east, because we’ve had NNE to ENE winds, so we’re making quite a detour… The forecast predicts easterlies and then southeasterlies so we hope for the best. 310 nm to go!

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2019
22
Jan

Bad for sailing, good for baking

by Birgit

The squalls have passed, today we have light northeasterly winds, so we’re neither fast nor on course, but at least it’s calm enough for baking. We had fresh bread for breakfast and now the last nectarines from Rapa have jumped into a fruit cake 345 nm to go!

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2019
21
Jan

Sporty

by Birgit

What looked like nice sailing winds at the grib file has turned out to be an annoying succession of huffs and puffs. We knew we’d have to expect squally weather with a passing low, but we still hoped that today’s sailing wouldn’t be quite as sporty. Puff, reefing, huff, sails out, puff, 40 knots, quickly reefing down again, huff, rain, almost no wind–it’s been going… Continue reading »

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2019
21
Jan

We write for Yachtrevue now

by Birgit

After eight years as writers and over 30 articles for Ocean7 a constant struggle with the new editor has induced us to swap to Austria’s biggest and most popular sailing magazine. Our new articles can be found in the ‘Yachtrevue’!

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2019
20
Jan

Grey sailing day

by Birgit

After a windy night follows a squally morning, we’re sailing close-hauled. 480 nm to go!

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2019
19
Jan

Leaving Rapa Iti

by Birgit

After more than a month we reluctantly leave Rapa Iti and our friends here. Unfortunately the second mooring didn’t work out, but the project goes on and more will hopefully follow! 600 nm to go to the Gambier Islands.

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2019
19
Jan

Leaving Rapa Iti

by Birgit

After more than a month we reluctantly leave Rapa Iti and our friends here. Unfortunately the second mooring didn’t work out, but the project goes on and more will hopefully follow! 600 nm to go to the Gambier Islands.

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2019
15
Jan

Crappy weather

by Birgit

2019 has started with seriously crappy weather here as the SPCZ (South Pacific Convergence Zone) is hanging over us and troughs and lows come our way that bring strong winds (the highest we saw was 40 knots) and torrential rainfalls. In the past two weeks we’ve had two sunny days, both of which we used for our mooring project. Apart from those working days we… Continue reading »

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2019
11
Jan

A mooring for Rapa Iti

by Birgit

The main bay of Rapa Iti is infamous for tricky anchoring. Cruising guides mention ‘dead coral rubble’ at the bottom, the bay is very deep (20-30 m) and uneven. Many boats have dragged and fouled their anchors and chains here. When we got here last year we found that large areas of the bay are indeed covered in live staghorn coral–especially the shallower parts that… Continue reading »

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2019
10
Jan

Festivities

by Birgit

We’ve had a busy time here in Rapa Iti. The island community celebrated Christmas and New Years as well as a big wedding together and the cruisers were invited as well. Last year we were the only boat for a month here, but this year we had 5(!) neighbours, so we got our own cruisers’ table at the festivities The weather was fine in the… Continue reading »

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