Pitufa.at

A weather window to sail to the Gambier has come up and we leave lovely Rapa Iti tonight. We are a bit sad, because we had such a great time here, but it’ll also be nice to sail towards warmer weather. 570 nm to go!

The low passed by as quickly as predicted: yesterday morning we had 25 knots from the east (still calm waters even though the bay is open to the east), at noon 35 knots sustained (some chop built up, but nothing spectacular) and in the evening the wind turned southeast and calmed a bit down, but since then we’ve had gusts over the mountains, some up… Continue reading »

Rapa’s a great little island with beautiful nature and wonderful people, but weather-wise it’s rather unfortunate… It’s located outside the tropics and also outside the trade-wind belt. Variable winds prevail the whole year round which makes it somewhat difficult for sailboats to visit. In July and August the temperatures go down to 10 degrees with winter storms battering the lonely little rock. The summer is… Continue reading »

Rapa Iti (the old name is Oparo) was colonised by Polynesian settlers about 1000 years ago (sources vary on that). The limited resources of the small island (Rapa is only 40 km2 big, but most of that land area is rugged and mountainous) led to conflicts among the growing population and the construction of 15 fortresses on the hilltops. When the island was discovered by… Continue reading »

Sunny days have been rare so far, so whenever the sun comes out we try to use the nice weather as actively as possible. On Monday we went ashore to see the freighter arrive. It was a big spectacle as it didn’t only bring new provisions, but also the island’s kids who attend school in Tahiti or Tubuai and only come home during the longer… Continue reading »

Rapa Iti is the remotest island of French Polynesia. There is no airport, the cargo ship only comes once a month (sometimes it skips a visit…) and Raivavae, the nearest neighbouring island, lies 290 nm away. The anchorage inside the huge main bay of Rapa is well protected from waves, but gusts howl down from the mountains whenever there are strong winds–and that seems to… Continue reading »

The weather’s still nasty, we’ve managed to do a short hike during a sunny spell on Saturday, but apart from that we’ve been at home working on boat projects, while it’s pouring down outside. Fortunately we’ve already explored the island thoroughly during our first visit here 2 years ago, so we’re not missing out on anything new.

We’re just getting ready to set sails again. Actually we haven’t quite finished all jobs, we’re quite stressed out, but we’re still leaving, because the hot, rainy season is just starting in Tahiti and we don’t want to miss our weather window. 390 nm to Raivavae, or 600 to Rapa–whether we’ll stop in Raivavae will depend on the wind.