2026 Pacific cruise

New Year means a new ocean.

Distance sailed	46186.3 NM	(98.7%)
Distance motored	617.1 NM	(1.3%)
Total	46803.5 NM
Travel days	138	(46%)
Harbour days	160	(53%)
Storm days	0	(0%)

Friday, January 2, 2026 9°22'N 79°57'W

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 9°14'N 79°55'W

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 8°55'N 79°32'W

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.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026 8°46'N 79°33'W

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 8°54'N 79°31'W

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 8°46'N 79°33'W

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.
Saturday, February 28, 2026 8°31'N 79°30'W

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 6°23'N 80°45'W

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 4°31'N 81°41'W

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 2°16'N 82°18'W

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 1°16'N 82°39'W

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 0°16'N 83°8'W

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 0°7'S 83°47'W

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 0°48'S 84°31'W

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 1°11'S 85°4'W

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 1°39'S 85°32'W

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 2°35'S 86°57'W

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 3°44'S 87°46'W

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 4°35'S 88°50'W

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 5°32'S 90°28'W

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 5°50'S 92°35'W

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 6°2'S 94°28'W

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 6°8'S 96°8'W

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 6°21'S 97°45'W

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 6°58'S 98°54'W

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 7°38'S 100°25'W

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 7°47'S 102°14'W

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 8°30'S 103°49'W

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 8°29'S 105°23'W

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 8°52'S 106°42'W

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 9°10'S 108°27'W

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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Wednesday, March 25, 2026 9°14'S 110°21'W

Pacific Ocean, 2433NM SW of Catalinia

After dinner we had some rain, but otherwise the conditions have remained the same as yesterday, puffy clouds and wind in the low 20s. Lumpy seas.

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Thursday, March 26, 2026 9°18'S 112°14'W

Pacific Ocean, 2546NM SW of Catalinia

The half moon illuminates the ocean pleasantly. No more second guessing where the sea ends and sky begins. The separation of the two halves is now visible again. In the cloudless night the wind kept picking up, so at midnight watch change we put the main in second reef. That led to the inevitable decrease in the wind speed also. Well, at least the ride was more comfortable now.

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Friday, March 27, 2026 9°17'S 114°2'W

Pacific Ocean, 2654NM SW of Catalinia

High winds and a bumpy ride continued throughout the night. Sky was mostly clear, and progress was good. At noon winds had subsided a bit, and we shook out the reef.

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Saturday, March 28, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø on the Pacific, part 1

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
Saturday, March 28, 2026 9°23'S 116°2'W

Pacific Ocean, 2774NM SW of Catalinia

The night fell in the same conditions, wind around 20 knots from a steady direction. Lille Ø sails itself beautifully on first reef and staysail.

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Sunday, March 29, 2026 9°23'S 117°53'W

Pacific Ocean, 2885NM SW of Catalinia

This weekend the HF radio net has worked quite poorly due to interference from an amateur radio contest on a nearby frequency. Hopefully radio conditions clear up.

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Monday, March 30, 2026 9°25'S 119°48'W

Pacific Ocean, 3000NM WSW of Catalinia

By 10pm the wind had picked up enough for a change back to staysail. The moon lights the sea even in cloudy conditions and the dark grey sea creates a calming backdrop for the watches. At around 10am the wind dropped and we changed back to genoa, staysail and main in 1st reef setup.

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Tuesday, March 31, 2026 9°15'S 121°27'W

Pacific Ocean, 3100NM WSW of Catalinia

The latest GRIB changed the forecast quite a bit, and we now have couple of days with stronger wind ahead of us. In anticipation to that, we rolled the genoa away for the night watches.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2026 9°21'S 123°20'W

Pacific Ocean, 3214NM WSW of Catalinia

At sunset a gust came through incentivising us to go to second reef. After that was set, we also went back to wing on wing. The southerly component in the wind was gone. The night was boisterous with wind gusting up to thirty. The second reef had indeed earned its setting. We also made good miles and at dawn we saw it. 999NM to destination. Mere 3 digits! Numbers so small that we had started to doubt their existence.

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Thursday, April 2, 2026 9°45'S 125°4'W

Pacific Ocean, 3321NM WSW of Catalinia

In the morning we saw a sail in the horizon. Mastegot was the 15th vessel we’ve seen on this passage, but the first sailboat. We had a brief VHF conversation, and learned that our AIS wasn’t transmitting.

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Friday, April 3, 2026 9°47'S 126°22'W

Pacific Ocean, 3400NM WSW of Catalinia

The wind kept dropping throughout the night. At midnight we packed away the mainsail to keep it from slatting. And then at sunrise the Parasailor came up.

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Saturday, April 4, 2026 9°46'S 127°59'W

Pacific Ocean, 3498NM WSW of Catalinia

We sailed into the night with the Parasailor up. A bold move for sure. With the moon and the motor light on, the sail is fully illuminated and easy to control. Just after 23 the wind started picking up. At 23:20 a gust of 17kn was enough to prompt a early wakeup call for the off-watch, and we packed the Parasailor up and went back to wing on wing.

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Sunday, April 5, 2026 10°0'S 129°39'W

Pacific Ocean, 3598NM WSW of Catalinia

At night the boat was visited by a pod of whales. Large black shapes rose out of the dark sea all around the boat. They stayed for a few minutes, and then continued on their way.

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Monday, April 6, 2026 10°10'S 131°8'W

Pacific Ocean, 3690NM WSW of Catalinia

With the evening came a bit more wind, but only for the dark hours without moonlight. The boat bobs gently on, accompanied by periodic bangs from the sails. Not the most pleasant sailing wise. The Pacific isn’t pacified. The swell is constant, large and confused. At all times there is at least two swell directions and when they meet at your position, the boat lurches into a random direction. The barnacles are plentiful and their growing size brings the slow speeds even slower.

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Tuesday, April 7, 2026 9°40'S 132°33'W

Pacific Ocean, 3781NM WSW of Catalinia

The light winds prevailed through the night. Light enough that we actually let the tillerpilot steer for some time, as there wasn’t enough for the windvane.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2026 9°51'S 134°20'W

Pacific Ocean, 3889NM WSW of Catalinia

Slightly after watch change, it was time to roll in the genoa and go wing on wing with the staysail. The night came with variable windspeeds littered with occasional squalls and rain. As the sun rose, the skies cleared but the wind stayed. We were moving fast, with the whole barnacle farm. Even the windvane servo rudder is rocking its first few small individuals.

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Thursday, April 9, 2026 9°37'S 135°54'W

Pacific Ocean, 3989NM WSW of Catalinia

As our target draws nearer, we need to start paying a bit more attention to navigation. It is no longer enough to follow a roughly westerly course whichever way the wind blows. And so, we gybed right after dinner to gain a bit more northing.

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Friday, April 10, 2026 9°48'S 137°32'W

Pacific Ocean, 4089NM WSW of Catalinia

Boat number 17, sailboat number 3, was spotted behind us in the darkness. An Oyster Rally boat Alpenglow sailed past us at double speed. We had a small conversation over VHF and soon they had disappeared into the darkness.

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Saturday, April 11, 2026 9°48'S 139°1'W

Taha Uku, 4180NM WSW of Catalinia

The night was dark and filled with squalls turning the wind. Our track was coming out like an plan for uneven stairs. The wind mostly stayed between 20 and 25kn and Lille Ø was behaving magnificiently even though the waves were tossing us around. Inside even sitting required 3 points of contact to ensure stability. We were fast. Even the barnacles agreed it is go time and streamlined themselves against the hull.

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Saturday, April 18, 2026 9°54'S 139°6'W

Taha Uku - Hanamoenoa

We had a great week exploring Hiva Oa. However, the muddy river water wasn’t suitable for swimming or running the watermaker, and so we decided to move over to Tahuata. We still hadn’t had a chance to clean the hull, but the local crab population had done a great job eating away most of it.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2026 10°27'S 138°40'W

Hanamoenoa - Hanavave

In the darkness we prepped the boat for leaving. Mentally we weren’t quite ready but this weather window was too good to pass. Most people arrive to Fatu Hiva after the passage without checking in to avoid the beating to the wind and waves that have the whole Pacific time to build up to arrive to an island they already passed. We being us did it the proper way. But instead of beating we had a nice beam reach sail with minimal swell after we were out of the shadow of Hiva Oa.

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Saturday, April 25, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø on the Pacific, part 2

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
Thursday, April 30, 2026 9°54'S 139°6'W

Hanavave - Hanamoenoa

We woke up again before the sunrise to prepare the boat. We packed away the dinghy and replaced the hydrogenerator fastening washer. Then it was time to fight the anchor up. Hoisting anchor by hand from 12m is never easy, but the gale-force katabatics of previous night had truly dug the anchor in. But with enough patience, it came up.

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Friday, May 8, 2026 8°54'S 140°6'W

Hanamoenoa - Taiohae

Few hours before sunset we hoisted the anchor and left the beautiful, but crowded anchorage. The distance to Nuku Hiva is enough that you can’t do it during the daylight hours, so we opted for a night sail. The sound between Hiva Oa and Tahuata gave us a fllying start. We had dolphins playing in our bow wave untill we reached the windstill behind Hiva Oa. We motored through it and continued under sail power. The sea was lumpy and wing on wing guaranteed we were thoroughly stirred and shaken.

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 8°49'S 140°3'W

Taiohae - Anaho

The main bay of Nuku Hiva is convenient for logistics, but quite rolly. So having done our shopping, we decided to seek better anchorages and find Plan B again.

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Saturday, May 16, 2026 8°56'S 140°17'W

Pacific Ocean, 26NM SW of Anaho

Exploring the islands of Marquesas has been fun. But it is time to go find something new, the atolls. We are heading to the next island group called Tuamotus. At noon we had the boat ready to go. Every nook and cranny full of vegetables and fruits bought from a local who sells the surplus of his garden to us cruisers.

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Sunday, May 17, 2026 11°4'S 140°55'W

Pacific Ocean, 159NM SSW of Anaho

As we got out of Nuku Hiva’s shadow, the wind filled in and we could start sailing on a brisk beam reach. Windvane was set, and since we’ve only had to roll the genoa out or in a bit to adjust to the wind speed.

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Monday, May 18, 2026 12°53'S 141°42'W

Pacific Ocean, 279NM S of Anaho

After the night, it was time to hoist the main fully up. It has been a while since we have had the full main and genoa out. The conditions at sea are absolute bliss! The waves are small, the swell calm and the wind on the beam keeps the boat steady. We are edging closer to the calm patch but it should fill in over the night giving us nice steady conditions for the whole way.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2026 14°26'S 142°10'W

Pacific Ocean, 377NM S of Anaho

The light and easy conditions continued as we sailed past the Isles of Disappointment, aptly named for their lack of anchorages.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2026 15°56'S 142°19'W

Raroia, 485NM S of Anaho

The sea state grew a bit more rumbunctious than before but Lille Ø made decent progress. In the morning we poled out the genoa and continued wing on wing untill our speed dropped a bit too much. If we could keep up 5kn, we still had a chance to make it through the pass with a favorable current. Or so we thought. Timing the entry to an atoll is not an exact sciense. There are no measurement devices around, nor pass schedules provided. The best tool available is Guestimator, and that gets it wrong on many occasions. The things to consider are: tide, wind, waves, amount of passes, pass widths, size of the atoll. All these components affect the in and outgoing current and when they occur.

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Saturday, May 30, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø in Marquesas

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
Saturday, May 30, 2026 16°6'S 142°22'W

Raroia NE to Raroia E

The Raroia northeast anchorage was very comfortable, and the facilities of the “Twin Palms Yacht Club” fun. But we still wanted to explore the rest of the atoll.

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Monday, June 1, 2026 16°2'S 142°28'W

Raroia E - Garumaoa

Anchor got up slightly after planned departure time, but it came up easily. The pearl floats make hoisting anchor by hand lighter. Then we started motoring to the other side of the atoll.

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Wednesday, June 3, 2026 16°37'S 143°34'W

Garumaoa - Pouheva

There are passages that are easy, and there are passages that are nice. This was neither. We were supposed to sail on beam reach from Raroia to Makemo, following a gentle curve of a backing wind.

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Saturday, June 6, 2026 16°39'S 143°23'W

Pouheva - Makemo E

In the morning we completed the boat’s provisioning by rowing to get some fresh croissants from the village bakery. Then we waited for the sun to move to a better angle and hoisted anchor.

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Thursday, June 18, 2026 16°50'S 144°41'W

Makemo E - Tahanea Middle Pass

After several windy days, we knew the pass would be in a 24/7 ebb. Constant outgoing current means that you can only choose how fast you are being shot out of the pass. So based on available information we decided that at 2pm we should be ready at the pass.

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Thursday, June 18, 2026 16°57'S 144°35'W

Tahanea Middle Pass - Tahanea E

After a nap and coffee the sun was high enough, and we hoisted the anchor.

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Saturday, June 27, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø in Tuamotus

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
Thursday, July 2, 2026 16°52'S 144°35'W

Tahanea E - Tahanea NE

In expectation of a 360° wind shift, we moved to the NE corner of the atoll. We motored the 5NM towards north and found a bommie-free spot in 6 meters deep after a bit of searching. Now we can explore the close by motus and enjoy a new scenery.

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Sunday, July 5, 2026 16°51'S 144°39'W

Tahanea NE - Motu Taharoa

The wind continues to back, so it was again time to move. We spent the morning on boat projects, and then hoisted anchor for a short jump closer to the three atoll passes.

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Tuesday, July 7, 2026 16°30'S 145°27'W

Motu Taharoa - Tumakohua

After a rough night, at sunrise we hoisted the anchor. Overnight the wind did a 200 degree shift that turned our of anchorage to a shitty one with a lee shore uncomfortably close. But that is life on the atolls. You have never good coverage for big windshifts.

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Friday, July 10, 2026 16°3'S 145°37'W

Tumakohua - Rotoava

The winds keep rotating, and so one needs to migrate to the right end of the atoll. Especially here. Fakarava has over 30NM of fetch in the wrong conditions. But we had a chance to snorkel the Unesco Nature site Wall of Sharks, and enjoyed a lovely dinner ashore.

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Sunday, July 12, 2026 15°48'S 146°9'W

Rotoava - Anse Amyot

At sunrise we were already outside in the 1kn wind getting the anchor up. After the 360° change in wind, we had a bit of the chain under a rock but we managed to wrangle it out without getting wet. As we were motoring out, the wind picked up a bit and turned southerly, several hours earlier than in the forecast. So we changed our plan. Instead of heading back to the Fakarava south pass, we headed out towards Toau. At least in that direction we had a small chance of sailing.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2026 16°16'S 146°49'W

Pacific Ocean, 48NM SW of Anse Amyot

After a couple of days waiting, the wind finally backed to southeast. Not quite as far as we’d like, but as there was nothing better in the horizon, we decided to take this window to get to the Society Islands.

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Thursday, July 16, 2026 17°7'S 148°16'W

Pacific Ocean, 148NM SW of Anse Amyot

Instead of the forecasted 20kn of wind, much of the night was hovering around 10kn. While this did hurt our day distance, it did make for smoother motion. As consequence, we both got pretty good sleep.

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Friday, July 17, 2026 17°33'S 149°37'W

Tahiti Airport Anchorage, 233NM SW of Anse Amyot

After dinner we could slightly ease our course, trading some of our gained height for comfort. The night skies also cleared, and there was a huge shooting star streaming across the skies in the early hours.

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Saturday, July 25, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø from Tahanea to Tahiti

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
Sunday, August 2, 2026 17°30'S 149°49'W

Tahiti Airport Anchorage - Pao Pao Bay

Having done a ton of grocery shopping, it was time to leave industrial Tahiti behind. We knew our anchor was stuck on an old mooring, and so we chose a calm morning to detach. Luckily the mooring rope was long enough to reach the surface. We had friends ready to dive for us, but that wasn’t necessary.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Saturday, August 29, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø sailing to Cook Islands

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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Saturday, September 26, 2026

Video postcard: Lille Ø in Niue

Spoken Finnish with English subtitles.
Friday, October 23, 2026 18°53'S 174°21'W

Pacific Ocean, 31NM SW of Neiafu

After over a month in Neiafu, we heard the seiren song of the open ocean once more. We checked out of Tonga and raised the main sail in 1st reef and gybed our way out of the calm waters of Vava’u archipelago. After the last gybe we raised the stay sail and were on our merry way. After passing the last tall island, we put in a second reef and were bracing for the increasing sea state. From 1 to 1.5 and as of writing 2 meters. Now that we are properly between the Vava’u and Haapa’i groups, the seas are confused and the month spent in still waters means that we both are dealing with some level of sea sickness.

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Saturday, October 24, 2026 20°29'S 176°9'W

Pacific Ocean, 170NM SW of Neiafu

The sporty conditions continued over the night and the day with wind over 32kn at times, and only a slight reduction to sea state while we were at the lee of the Ha’apai Group.

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Sunday, October 25, 2026 22°13'S 177°44'W

Pacific Ocean, 302NM SW of Neiafu

The night was uneventful. Lille Ø kept sailing on its course with little to no intervention from the crew, who were slowly getting fitter from the various levels of sea sickness. The morning grew gray as scattered rainclouds kept swiching the wind between 7 and 27kn. Afternoon brought the sun out and steady winds around 20kn. In the horizon we see the also heavily reefed Mathilda flying past us at around 10kn of speed.

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Monday, October 26, 2026 23°38'S 178°53'W

North Minerva Reef, 424NM SW of Neiafu

The going got progressively easier the further south we got. In the early hours we had some rain showers that turned the wind, and so in the morning we set up the poled out genoa and shook to first reef. Soon after we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Lille Ø is out of the tropics for the first time since leaving Canaries.

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Saturday, October 31, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 51NM SW of Minerva reef

In the morning we woke up to a gloomy grey day. The front had passed us and the wind had turned to be favorable, so we hoisted anchor and left. Inside the atoll we packed the anchor away and set up main in first reef and prepared the staysail on deck. Then it was time to head out of the pass and leave North Minerva Reef behind.

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Sunday, November 1, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 178NM SW of Minerva Reef

The night watches and morning hours went easily with the boat sailing itself. The only thing the on-watch had to do was an occasional look around.

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Monday, November 2, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 330NM SW of Minerva Reef

In the night, the winds kept stable and wind wane kept us on course without interventions. As the sun came out, the wind kicked up a notch and kept changing between 20 and 35kn. We needed to keep adjusting the wind vane to match the wind. Around noon we had the biggest gust of 39kn and the waves were steep as we found ourselves in the middle of a counter current. Here the currents are more or less random, so picking a favourable stream is not an option.

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Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 480NM SW of Minerva Reef

The morning dawned grey and wet. However, also with a significant decrease in sea state. With the wind backing, we were able to pole out the headsail and continue wing on wing.

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2026 Pacific cruise

Friday, January 2, 2026 9°22'N 79°57'W

Thursday, January 8, 2026 9°14'N 79°55'W

Friday, January 9, 2026 8°55'N 79°32'W

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 8°46'N 79°33'W

Friday, January 30, 2026 8°54'N 79°31'W

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 8°46'N 79°33'W

Saturday, February 28, 2026

Saturday, February 28, 2026 8°31'N 79°30'W

Sunday, March 1, 2026 6°23'N 80°45'W

Monday, March 2, 2026 4°31'N 81°41'W

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 2°16'N 82°18'W

Wednesday, March 4, 2026 1°16'N 82°39'W

Thursday, March 5, 2026 0°16'N 83°8'W

Friday, March 6, 2026 0°7'S 83°47'W

Saturday, March 7, 2026 0°48'S 84°31'W

Sunday, March 8, 2026 1°11'S 85°4'W

Monday, March 9, 2026 1°39'S 85°32'W

Tuesday, March 10, 2026 2°35'S 86°57'W

Wednesday, March 11, 2026 3°44'S 87°46'W

Thursday, March 12, 2026 4°35'S 88°50'W

Friday, March 13, 2026 5°32'S 90°28'W

Saturday, March 14, 2026 5°50'S 92°35'W

Sunday, March 15, 2026 6°2'S 94°28'W

Monday, March 16, 2026 6°8'S 96°8'W

Tuesday, March 17, 2026 6°21'S 97°45'W

Wednesday, March 18, 2026 6°58'S 98°54'W

Thursday, March 19, 2026 7°38'S 100°25'W

Friday, March 20, 2026 7°47'S 102°14'W

Saturday, March 21, 2026 8°30'S 103°49'W

Sunday, March 22, 2026 8°29'S 105°23'W

Monday, March 23, 2026 8°52'S 106°42'W

Tuesday, March 24, 2026 9°10'S 108°27'W

Wednesday, March 25, 2026 9°14'S 110°21'W

Thursday, March 26, 2026 9°18'S 112°14'W

Friday, March 27, 2026 9°17'S 114°2'W

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Saturday, March 28, 2026 9°23'S 116°2'W

Sunday, March 29, 2026 9°23'S 117°53'W

Monday, March 30, 2026 9°25'S 119°48'W

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 9°15'S 121°27'W

Wednesday, April 1, 2026 9°21'S 123°20'W

Thursday, April 2, 2026 9°45'S 125°4'W

Friday, April 3, 2026 9°47'S 126°22'W

Saturday, April 4, 2026 9°46'S 127°59'W

Sunday, April 5, 2026 10°0'S 129°39'W

Monday, April 6, 2026 10°10'S 131°8'W

Tuesday, April 7, 2026 9°40'S 132°33'W

Wednesday, April 8, 2026 9°51'S 134°20'W

Thursday, April 9, 2026 9°37'S 135°54'W

Friday, April 10, 2026 9°48'S 137°32'W

Saturday, April 11, 2026 9°48'S 139°1'W

Saturday, April 18, 2026 9°54'S 139°6'W

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 10°27'S 138°40'W

Saturday, April 25, 2026

Thursday, April 30, 2026 9°54'S 139°6'W

Friday, May 8, 2026 8°54'S 140°6'W

Sunday, May 10, 2026 8°49'S 140°3'W

Saturday, May 16, 2026 8°56'S 140°17'W

Sunday, May 17, 2026 11°4'S 140°55'W

Monday, May 18, 2026 12°53'S 141°42'W

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 14°26'S 142°10'W

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 15°56'S 142°19'W

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Saturday, May 30, 2026 16°6'S 142°22'W

Monday, June 1, 2026 16°2'S 142°28'W

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 16°37'S 143°34'W

Saturday, June 6, 2026 16°39'S 143°23'W

Thursday, June 18, 2026 16°50'S 144°41'W

Thursday, June 18, 2026 16°57'S 144°35'W