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

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