Tuesday, September 15, 2026 18°39'S 173°59'W

Hihifo - Neiafu

After a night well slept, we hoisted anchor at sunrise. Always a big effort at these depths! Then we started ghosting along following the steep shoreline. At the lee of Vava’u, the winds were fickle and progress slow. But we were rewarded by two whales surfacing close to the boat.

Once we got to the channel leading to the inner archipelago, wind picked up. What followed was a fun brisk upwind sail amid the small islands. This will be a great cruising ground once we’re cleared in!

The Outremer rally was leaving Tonga as we sailed in. We had a brief radio conversation with the Finnish boat No Regrets. We’ll meet them later in New Zealand.

As there is a supply ship at the customs dock, we and the other incoming boats were told to anchor outside. Biosecurity and Health & Safety came onboard as soon as we had the anchor down, but we still wait for Customs and Immigration.

• Distance today: 12NM
• Lunch: not yet
• Engine hours: 0.9

Monday, September 14, 2026 18°37'S 174°1'W

Hihifo, 253NM W of Niue

In the darkness we crossed over the Tonga Trench, the second deepest trench in the world! Few hours later, at midnight, it was time to change the ship’s clock. From Saturday 12th of September straight to Monday 14th of September. From UTC -11 to UTC +13. A day lost to the abyss. Yet another milestone on this trip!

At dawn Swiss catamaran Raija flew past us. Around midday the wind picked up enough to require 1st reef on the main and genoa rolled in about 30%. That also meant that finally we had enough wind to go wing on wing, so we adjusted our course to pass Vava’u from the north as it became clear we cannot make it to Neiafu during daylight hours. After turning the northern corner we could enjoy sailing in flat seas and good wind! We dropped the hook in 15 meters of water. We’ll continue to Neifu tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.

• Distance today: 114NM
• Lunch: tomato cashew pasta
• Engine hours: 0.9

Saturday, September 12, 2026 18°36'S 172°10'W

Pacific Ocean, 139NM W of Niue

Overnight the wave train settled to the new wind direction, and the cloudy conditions dissipated. As result, we enjoyed quite a smooth ride under a starlit sky.

Winds are light making for slow going. But if conditions stay this smooth, what’s an extra day at sea?

In the morning hours we were passed by catamaran O2, and the whole day the Polish vessel Matilda has been creeping closer.

• Distance today: 100NM
• Lunch: quinoa salad
• Engine hours: 0

Friday, September 11, 2026 19°2'S 170°32'W

Pacific Ocean, 39NM W of Niue

As expected, in the night the wind had veered to NW and was supposed to turn to southerly winds through west over the day. That meant that it was time to go. With any westerly components in the wind Niue mooring field is completely unprotected and the waves will become dangerously big quite quickly. So at first light we dropped the mooring lines and motored past the other boats to set sails and head out. With staysail and first reef we ventured out. The expected wind turn was supposed to come as a front. As we saw the row of dark grey rainclouds approaching, we put in a second reef, just in case.

The front passed and the wind turned, so we tacked and continued our sail, again with first reef, now actually pointing towards the northern corner of Tonga. The sea state was quite confused during the wind shift, but soon we could continue with wind and waves on the beam.

• Distance today: 39NM
• Lunch: pomodoro pasta
• Engine hours: 0.05

Friday, September 4, 2026 19°3'S 169°55'W

Niue, 619NM W of Aitutaki

Good sailing conditions prevailed until the morning, but then we were back to low winds and slatting sails.

Instead of motoring the rest of the way, we chose to gybe our way towards Niue, trying to play with the currents in order to find the more favorable tack.

In the afternoon the wind picked up again and we were able to point more or less to our destination. But the time lost in light winds meant arrival after sunset. Luckily the mooring balls at Niue are well marked and easy to find. Now we can enjoy an anleger of a German Krombacher beer to mark the halfway point.

• Distance today: 119NM
• Lunch: potato parmesan bracioles
• Engine hours: 0.5

Thursday, September 3, 2026 18°51'S 168°9'W

Pacific Ocean, 500NM W of Aitutaki

The night started quite rough, with a series of 32kn gusts rolling over the boat. As we had reefed down early, dealing with them meant just doing a slight weather helm correction on the windvane, and then zipping down the dodger backdrop. Such luxury to stay dry in conditions like this!

By midnight the worst was over. Around 3am the off-watch was roused for a happier occasion: we had just crossed W166°48’24” of longitude, which happens to be the antimeridian of our home port in Berlin. Now all Nautical Miles sailed will be closer to home.

Quite pleasant sailing conditions followed. Wind in the teens and slowly decreasing sea state. Some moments of lull brought slatting sails, and we hope that there’s enough wind until Niue.

• Distance today: 140NM
• Lunch: pea soup
• Engine hours: 0

Wednesday, September 2, 2026 18°38'S 165°46'W

Pacific Ocean, 360NM W of Aitutaki

Having gotten through the calms, we were rewarded with almost 24h of the best kind of ocean sailing: wind 13-15kn on the stern quarter, nice waves, and a beautiful sunny blue sea.

Around noon watch change the wind started picking up, and we switched directly to staysail and main in the 2nd reef. The forecast has blustery conditions for the night and so it is better to be prepared.

Today’s meal was chanterelle risotto, made from what I believe are the last batch of what we picked in Finland in 2023.

• Distance today: 134NM
• Lunch: chanterelle risotto
• Engine hours: 0

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: Shakshuka
• 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