2026 Pacific cruise

• Friday, January 2, 2026

  Panamarina - Shelter Bay

  Finally the rain stopped in the early hours. We woke up with the sun, prepared the boat for a proper shakedown after the yard time as the waves were crashing to the reef outside hard. So, motor on, and away! After the reef pass, we were fully in the Atlantic swell again. We slowly pushed through untill we had enough room to start sailing. We hoisted the main in 1st reef and rolled out a sliver of genoa and turned to our rolly downwind sail towards Shelter Bay.

  

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• Thursday, January 8, 2026

  Shelter Bay - Lake Gatun

  The few days of preparation at the marina went by quickly. Then came the awaited message: “Hello transit day January 8”.

  

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• Friday, January 9, 2026

  Lake Gatun - Las Brisas

  The alarm rang at 6am. Expected time for advisor 07:15. So coffee and hearty breakfast were consumed and to everyones slight suprice the advisor came on board exactly when promised.

  

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• Sunday, January 25, 2026

  Video postcard: Lille Ø in Panama Canal

  Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.

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• Tuesday, January 27, 2026

  Las Brisas - Catalinia

  While waiting for various logistics to happen, we decided to go and spend a few days on the outer islands of Panama City. Taboga had been recommended, and so we hoisted the anchor and headed there.

  

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• Friday, January 30, 2026

  Catalinia - La Playita

  Looking at the weather forecast, we decided that today is the nicest day to sail back. So we hoisted the anchor and set main in first reef and dug out the staysail.

  

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• Wednesday, February 25, 2026

  La Playita - Catalinia

  Having spent almost four weeks again anchored off Panama City, it was time to go. Our original intention was mid-February, but fixing a leaking muffler and a broken watermaker took a while. But better to deal with those here than in the middle of the ocean!

  

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• Saturday, February 28, 2026

  Video postcard: Lille Ø and Pacific crossing preparations

  Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.

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• Saturday, February 28, 2026

  Gulf of Panama, 16NM S of Catalinia

  In the afternoon as the wind picked up, we hoisted the anchor. It was time to leave the joys of being close to land behind. We are as ready as we can be. What awaits us promises to be our longest passage. An idea so big that it is hard to fit it to my head. Somehow one corner of it disappears over the horizon no matter how you look at it. Now all we can do is embrace the journey and enjoy the moment.

  

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• Sunday, March 1, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 170NM SW of Catalinia

  At night we were able to hitch a ride with a powerful current, and so we barreled south at speeds previously unknown on Lille Ø. 9-10kn meant that Panama was soon left behind.

  

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• Monday, March 2, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 306NM SW of Catalinia

  The night brought some light winds and we made good progress aided by the current. At dawn watch change we reefed the mainsail to 2nd reef in preparation for the expected 30kn winds. They came as promised and we enjoyed the speed immensely. A dampener to the feeling came with a debree field of trash, twigs and sizeable logs. Sharp lookout was required in a desperate attempt to avoid hitting the biggest ones. Only once I missed a big one, but the impact was luckily only a soft thud.

  

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• Tuesday, March 3, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 450NM SSW of Catalinia

  In addition to our primary offshore communications system, Starlink, it is also important to utilize the secondary systems frequently. Now that I have a full amateur radio license, we’re able to use the HF radio on board. And so we have now enrolled to the Pacific Seafarers Net (14300kHz at 3:00Z). This is a voice-based radio net that tracks boats during their ocean passages.

  

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• Wednesday, March 4, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 515NM SSW of Catalinia

  As the night grew older, the wind started to dwindle. The mainsail came down as going down wind it was just making noise and not really helping with speed. We continued with the double headsails. Annoyingly the blue extra sheet is not long enough to run the full genoa when not poled out and Bergie not wanting to wake me up opted to run it reefed. As mid day arrived, the wind had turned even more requiring a new sail plan. The staysail came down, so did the blue rope. Genoa got stretched out and the mainsail was up in full too.

  

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• Thursday, March 5, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 585NM SSW of Catalinia

  Another slow but comfortable day in the light conditions. We’ve been mostly carrying full sail and making slow but steady progress south. It makes no sense to turn on the engine this early in the long passage, especially as the boat is still mostly steerable and moving in to the right direction.

  

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• Friday, March 6, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 631NM SW of Catalinia

  This was our slowest day yet. Wind has been under 5kn for most of the time. At night a frigate bird decided to use the aft solar panel as its sleeping spot. In the morning it left and behind it a very thoroughly pooped panel. The panel got washed, and soon after two swallow-tailed gulls decided that aft panel is the coolest place to hang out. We seem to be popular with the local wildlife.

  

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• Saturday, March 7, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 694NM SSW of Catalinia

  We’ve been at sea for a week, and the days are starting to blend into a continuous stream of watches. Sleep, sail, sleep, sail.

  

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• Sunday, March 8, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 739NM SSW of Catalinia

  The night was windless. At first we were slowly sailing. By the midnight watch change, the wind died completely. As we both were awake, we decided that it was time for some motor maintenance aka motoring time. We have decided to run the motor for an hour or so every week to keep it happy on the long passage.

  

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• Monday, March 9, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 789NM SSW of Catalinia

  We finally hit the proper convergence zone, and so the night went with fickle winds, heavy rain, and some thunder in the distance.

  

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• Tuesday, March 10, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 894NM SW of Catalinia

  As the night fell, we motored on hoping for wind. In the early hours of morning it came, suddenly and fast. 20kn out of the darkness. So we rolled out a sliver of genoa and sailed! Since then the wind keeps disappearing and reappearing randomly. The sky is grey and the seas confused. So to keep up the morale, we motor the in betweens because drifting would be just too umcomfortable. Neither of us is sleeping well with the constant changes in conditions. At least we are making solid progress now.

  

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• Wednesday, March 11, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 982NM SW of Catalinia

  What a difference a day makes! Around 8pm we caught an easterly breeze and could stop motoring, and around midnight the wind was strong enough for the windvane to steer.

  

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• Thursday, March 12, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1064NM SW of Catalinia

  The wind has kept constant for the past 24 hours. Only small puffly clouds spot the sky, so the batteries are full at 2pm. We run the watermaker every day and we keep the tank full. Excess water is then used for fresh water showers or like today, for laundry. We aim to be somewhat civilized so that other boats first see us, not smell us.

  

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• Friday, March 13, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1184NM SW of Catalinia

  Overnight the winds kept picking up, and by morning we finally found the trade winds around 5°S. At 5°30 we caught a favourable current, and turned our bow towards Marquesas. Now it theoretically should be sailing in a straight line for the remaining 2900NM.

  

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• Saturday, March 14, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1312NM SW of Catalinia

  Life in the trade winds is different. We are not so frantically looking at the weather anymore, a single checkup a day seems to provide all the information we need. The boat moves more as the waves come taller and closer together. Moving inside has become a task of planning 3 points of contact at all times, which is easy enough in a small boat. Cooking and doing the dishes has become task requiring skills in acrobatics too. Sleeping is an action of wedging yourself tightly in with pillows, so you don’t roll around but get a good night sleep.  Skills we haven’t needed in a while. The boat sails itself beautifully, the humans inside need to adjust a bit more. Now, at least, we have time to do that!

  

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• Sunday, March 15, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1429NM SW of Catalinia

  Winds have been remarkably consistent, and so the boat has been mostly left to its own devices, sailing us towards Polynesia. The slight downward trend in wind speeds means that we’re now flying full sail.

  

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• Monday, March 16, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1530NM SW of Catalinia

  In the darkness a larger cloud started to cover a quarter of the stars, so a reef was put in to the main and genoa was rolled in a bit. Nothing came out of the cloud, so at the dawn watch change, the solar panel in the bow was cleaned and the reef was shaken. By midmorning, we had a slight wind shift and went from wing on wing to port tack.

  

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• Tuesday, March 17, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1629NM SW of Catalinia

  The night passed comfortably with easy conditions and some shooting stars. The last thin sliver of moon rose only an hour before sunrise.

  

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• Wednesday, March 18, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1709NM SW of Catalinia

  In the light winds we decided to head a couple of degrees more south. So we trimmed the sails to a beam reach and glided along the swell silently. In the cloudless dark night sky you can see the Milky Way very clearly. Orion high in the sky and big dipper is hanging wrong way around pointing to a star not visible anymore.

  

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• Thursday, March 19, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1813NM SW of Catalinia

  The night was again a smooth magic carpet ride under the starlit sky. But at dawn things became grey and wind picked up. We tucked in a reef. At 7°30 we made the turn west, wing on wing. This latitude should keep us below worst of the squally weather.

  

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• Friday, March 20, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 1925NM SW of Catalinia

  The night fell under starless sky. The clouds hanging low and occasionally we where greeted by drizzle. With no sense of where the sea ends and sky begins, the flying fish were taking wrong turns on a constant rate. Few of them even landed in the cockpit. As the night grew longer, every now and the clouds would scatter revealing the starry night sky.

  

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• Saturday, March 21, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 2031NM SW of Catalinia

  After consulting the weather forecast, we decided to take another degree to the south to avoid a few squally, rainy, grey days. So far this strategy has succeeded, with zero drops of rain instead of the downpour that we would’ve gotten.

  

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• Sunday, March 22, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 2125NM SW of Catalinia

  In the dead of the night, we reached a big milestone: The half way mark of this journey. 2060 nautical miles both behind and before us. A point in any journey that brings a change. You are no longer going deeper into the voyage, you are easing off. It feels like we are emerging from the darkness together with the moon, which now in it’s crescent form lingers in the evening sky for an hour longer every day.

  

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• Monday, March 23, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 2212NM SW of Catalinia

  In the evening the grey skies fulfilled their promise, and the first squall hit us. 90° wind shift and gusting to 30kn, we had to do some manouvering to get back on course.

  

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• Tuesday, March 24, 2026

  Pacific Ocean, 2318NM SW of Catalinia

  The clouds slowly dissipated during the night revealing the stars. With the clouds gone, the wind also stabilized itself and Lille Ø was again in full control. The dawn rose with only small puffy clouds in the sky, so our solar panels had work cut out for them filling the batteries after couple of grey days.

  

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