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Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Primer auf Deck und andere Wartungsarbeiten — April 2, 2026
  2. Primering the deck and other maintenance — April 2, 2026
  3. Werftprojekte in Zeke’s boatyard: Deck — March 28, 2026
  4. Zeke’s boatyard: Getting started — March 28, 2026
  5. Einklarieren in Surigao (Philippinen) — March 19, 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
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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2018
12
Dec

Back in Rapa Iti (Oparo)

by Birgit

We arrived in Rapa Iti at 9 in the evening yesterday and were glad that we could follow our GPS track from last year through the outlying reef maze into the big bay. This morning the bay was bathed in sunlight with the high, rugged mountains towering in the background–Rapa Iti (or Opara as the locals say) is a spectacular place. In Rapa you have… Continue reading »

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2018
11
Dec

Wet mattress

by Birgit

It’s been a grey, windy and rainy passage so far. Usually we have our aft cabin hatch open on passages whenever it’s not extremely rough, but because of the rain it was only a tiny gap open with a rubber mat covering the windward side this morning. Suddenly there was a a crashing sound followed by a loud whoosh–one of those waves that insist on… Continue reading »

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2018
09
Dec

Difficult to say good-bye

by Birgit

We are getting ready to leave as there’s a weather window for Rapa Iti coming up. Yesterday we went to say good-bye to our local friends, so of course Pitufa got loaded up with fruit and veg… It’s very tempting to stay and spend Christmas here with them, but we should slowly make our way east as the cyclone season has started.

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2018
27
Nov

Having a good time in Raivavae

by Birgit

It’s our third visit to Raivavae, but this year we’re lucky with the weather for the first time–sunny skies make such a difference… We’ve been dividing our time between writing/boat projects and fun activities with our cruiser friends. Three days ago we hiked up Mt. Hiro, the highest mountain, together: 8 cruisers in a row To get to the path we had to cross a… Continue reading »

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2018
17
Nov

The end of our adventure trip

by Birgit

We arrived on Thursday in Raivavae after a fast sail with steady winds (despite the light and fickle winds that were predicted). Just as we were approaching the pass it started pouring down, the high island was completely invisible in the clouds and we were glad that we could follow an old GPS track to an anchorage we had used 4 years before. The next… Continue reading »

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2018
15
Nov

Leaving Tubuai

by Birgit

In the end we had a very nice time in Tubuai. The anchorage in the west was so calm that we could get some work done and then we met a friendly Polynesian while hitchhiking: He offered to take us up Mt Pahatu (we had failed on our own) and it turned out, there is indeed no path–but Grandpa Viri made one for us with… Continue reading »

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2018
11
Nov

Finally a calm anchorage

by Birgit

When we first arrived we anchored near the village on the northern side. We tried inside the harbour with a sternline and corkscrewed horribly, moved outside and rolled even worse. The reef on the northside is open, so on top of the windchop bent SW swell comes in and adds to the misery. Only the northside is charted and cruising guides refer to this one… Continue reading »

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2018
07
Nov

Up the highest mountain of Tubuai

by Birgit

Yesterday it was sunny, so we kicked ourselves to some activity even though we were still tired from the passage–you never know how long the nice weather will last in the Australs… We went to the mayor’s office, didn’t get a map, but some vague advice about hiking tracks. We hitched a ride along the cross-island road–after friendly Rurutu we were surprised how many cars… Continue reading »

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2018
04
Nov

Annoying arrival in Tubuai

by Birgit

We arrived this morning in Tubuai after an unexpectedly windy night (20 gusting 30 kn instead of 12 kn predicted) and tried out two anchorages just inside the pass–one was unbearably rolly and at the other one we ploughed some sand before we gave up and headed over to the village. The lagoon is murky, shallow and difficult to navigate. Now we’re anchored behind the… Continue reading »

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2018
03
Nov

Some more hikes

by Birgit

The past three days it was still blowing hard, so we stayed in Avera bay where it was bouncy, but at least safe. The sun was out again and we explored the last few corners of the island we had not seen yet: we walked along the beach to a spectacular cave just north of Avera, hiked along the ridge southwards and today we made… Continue reading »

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2018
31
Oct

Nasty weather

by Birgit

We’ve been confined to the boat for 5 days during nasty weather with lots of rain, sustained winds of 30 knots (54 km/h) and gusts howling down the mountains with up to 50 knots (90 km/h). We were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves until we read on the news that Europe has been hit by far worse weather with horrible floodings, mudslides and snow… Continue reading »

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2018
29
Oct

Indoor program

by Birgit

There’s a front moving by just north of us and we get grey, rainy and very windy weather here. The wind’s howling over the montain and gusts up to 40 knots push Pitufa from one side to the other. Fortunately the sea’s are (still??) rather calm, so we’re having productive indoor-project days. I got the jewellery workshop out, Christian’s working on the computer and Leeloo… Continue reading »

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