Tuesday, September 1, 2026 18°48'S 163°28'W

Pacific Ocean, 226NM W of Aitutaki

In the darkening evening Suski took a look at the bilge. Under the engine in the oil pan a unwanted sight when the motor is running. Oil. Not much, maybe few tablespoons but nevertheless alarming as our engine has never before had any under it. So we stopped the engine and did initial observations and let the engine cool before trying more properly to figure out the source. So over the night we sailed with next to no wind. The electronic autopilot kept us on track, though going dirrctly downwind was now out of question, we needed at least some apparent wind to keep the sails filled.

After sunrise the engine got a second inspection. The oil had come around the dip stick, so most likely due to the not so gentle sea state. We will keep monitoring it and keep our motoring time at minimum for the time being.

Then few hours later, the electric autopilot broke, again. This time to a mechanical failure as the tiller arm went limp. Well fuck. Luckily by this point the wind picked up a bit and the WindPilot could hold a course once more. We opened up the tiller arm and found a shear pin in 3 pieces. Not good. We devised a shear pin from a piece of stainless split ring and put the tiller arm back together again with great difficulty. Loose ball bearings is not what you want to be messing with in a rocking boat. Few got lost in the process, but now the tiller arm works again. Though sounding rougher that it used to, so a replacement will be procured at our earliest convenience.

After all of this Suski got to sea watch with not much sleep but Lille Ø was steadily moving us directly to our target, so the sea watch became a series of quick naps between lookouts.

• Distance today: 80NM
• Lunch: Shaksuka
• Engine hours: 0

Monday, August 31, 2026 18°25'S 162°15'W

Pacific Ocean, 146NM W of Aitutaki

Wind started reducing over night, making for a bit of struggle with slatting sails and windvane that didn’t quite get enough input from the apparent wind. But as our electric autopilot has been out of order, we kept correcting the windvane whenever it drifted off course. Sometimes every few minutes, and sometimes hours would pass without intervention.

In the morning we decided to try fixing the autopilot, and were able to do so. The deck plug is still a bit fiddly and will need replacement. But at least now we have a solution for light airs.

Today’s expected entertainment was the re-entry of an ESA satellite, Samba. ESA had asked cruisers to try and capture video of it, but sadly we were either too far north, or the noon sun too bright to see anything. We’ll try again with the Tango satellite tomorrow.

In the afternoon wind finally reached the threshold where we couldn’t sail, and so we are now motoring directly towards Niue. Wind should pick up as we pass the Palmerston atoll.

• Distance today: 105NM
• Lunch: spaghetti aglio e olio
• Engine hours: 1.5

Sunday, August 30, 2026 18°40'S 160°28'W

Pacific Ocean, 41NM W of Aitutaki

In the morning it was time to undo the spiderweb of anchors, land lines and springs between the boats. In about an hour, we were ready to go. We got the privilige of going first, followed by Sea Ya, Tirohanga and 2Easy.In about half an hour, we had all taken our slightly different courses and all the other sails disappeared between the waves.

The sea state is still quite big after the storm, currently around 3 meters, but it should ease quickly now. We are sailing into weakening wind expecting to punch through a patch of windstill tomorrow.

• Distance today: 41NM
• Lunch: Lentil-coconut-soup
• Engine hours: 0.5

Monday, August 17, 2026 18°51'S 159°48'W

Arutanga, 536NM W of Hiumoo

Before the sun set, we changed to starboard tack. At first it meant that we were going slightly too much north, but as per the forecast, the wind slowly backed towards north and we could point straight towards Aitutaki.

The Arutanga harbour is tiny and under construction, the comings and goings are organized through the Aitutaki Welcome Commitee WhatsApp group. As we were coming in, we checked the group and we were instructed to go and side tie to a catamaran. The pass to the harbour is an artificial one and shallow and narrow. We got in without an issue and even our first harbour manouver since Shelter Bay in Panama went without issues! Now we need to clear biosecurity, health check, customs and immigration.

• Distance today: 105NM
• Lunch: fish&chips
• Engine hours: 0.5

Sunday, August 16, 2026 18°38'S 158°4'W

Pacific Ocean, 431NM W of Hiumoo

The wind has eased throughout the day and we have been giving us more sail area bit by bit. We are still making excellent progress towards our destination. Watermaker ran the whole day in preparation for Aitutaki harbour as it is not advisable to run the watermaker there.

• Distance today: 130NM
• Lunch: Navy bean soup
• Engine hours: 0

Saturday, August 15, 2026 18°2'S 155°55'W

Pacific Ocean, 301NM W of Hiumoo

Wind did indeed come back. We entered the night with the main in the first reef, and by morning had switched to 2nd reef and staysail.

Seas have been somewhat lumpy and weather squally. But despite that we finished today with higher battery level than yesterday, thanks to the hydrogenerator.

Today has also seen a very slow motion chase scene, as a 14m sailboat has spent the last 20 hours slowly passing us and pulling ahead. Apart from that and a tanker going the other way there hasn’t been any traffic. A lot of boats took this weather window to Cook Islands, but most started from further north in Bora Bora.

• Distance today: 137NM
• Lunch: chanterelle risotto
• Engine hours: 0

Friday, August 14, 2026 17°26'S 153°39'W

Pacific Ocean, 164NM W of Hiumoo

The wind quieted down for the night, meaning that we had to spend the dark hours with occasionally slatting sails and struggling windvane. But at least we had a good showing of shooting stars to accompany us.

It seems we truly left our sea legs into the smooth waters of the atolls. Suski is still working to adjust, and feeling the effects of the motion in the seastate.

By afternoon the wind was back, and we’re making good progress westward.

• Distance today: 110NM
• Lunch: spaghetti aglio e olio
• Engine hours: 0

Thursday, August 13, 2026 17°1'S 151°51'W

Pacific Ocean, 54NM W of Hiumoo

We hoisted anchor just before sunrise. Swell outside had settled a bit, and so it was finally time to leave French Polynesia behind.

As soon as we rigged up the spinnaker pole, we realized this is the first downwind leg since probably the trip to Nuku Hiva!

Passing Ra’iātea, we were hailed by Tahiti JRCC. They were having trouble contacting a vessel, and wanted to do a radio check. We had a brief conversation and exchanged DSC messages successfully both ways. First DSC since radio exam back in Berlin!

• Distance today: 54NM
• Lunch: pea soup
• Engine hours: 0.9

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Hiumoo

While we have been waiting for weather for the passage to Cook Islands, we’ve utilized the time building backup communication systems. Starlink changes their policies on August 17th, and it is possible it becomes prohibitively expensive for us.

And so now we have tools to publish blog posts and request GRIB weather data over both InReach satellite connection and amateur HF radio. This post is our first test using them. While at sea, photos will be of lower quality, and replaced with high res when we have faster internet again.

Friday, August 7, 2026 16°44'S 151°2'W

Pao Pao - Hiumoo

It was quite the workout to raise the anchor from 20 meters deep. But with both of us pulling we managed without our rope to the winch backup plan. Inside the bay we hoisted the mainsail and motored out. Just as we were in deeper water, a pod of humpback whales greeted us. What a majestic sight!

As the darkness fell, we changed to staysail and few hours later put in a reef to the main. The night was rainy and fast. The waves were tossing us around and neither of us got much sleep. In the dawn between the rainclouds the green peaks of Huahine became visible. That is also when the rain stole all of the wind and we turned on the engine. A while later, we motored through the pass and dropped anchor in a refreshing 5 meter depth!

• Distance today: 92.4NM
• Lunch: Coconut Lentil Curry
• Engine hours: 3.3