Author: Ulrich Fingscheidt

This message got stuck on the way to my email server, so I try again: After two grey days of incredible rain and wild wind I finally saw some blue patches in the sky. The conditions are quite exhausting. No romantic sailing into the sunset this time. The Pacific is leaving some permanent marks in my memory. Not peaceful at all as the name would suggest.

Nice sailing today. I am slowly recovering to normal life. This is my last coconut from French Polynesia. Thin coconut slices are an ideal component of my Müsli. I have to finish all my fruit, vegetable and pork meat. The list of things you are not allowed to bring into New Zealand is endless. This makes me really feel like entering the very far side of the world. These innumerous entry regulations plus the unbelievable buerocracy when applying for a visa is a strange experience for a European citizen. Feels so much like last century. We can be so glad to be living in modern Europe! Btw, the next tools required to open the coconut after draining the delicious, salty water, is a hammer to produce a horizontal crack, and a srewdriver to separate the meat from the shell. The meat lasts longer in the fridge, covered with foil so it does not dry out.

Hi friends, I am on my way from Tonga to New Zealand. My aft cabin looks like this. Lots of cushions and blankets to stop me from rolling around. I sleep in intervals at night, only short naps at daytime. Around seven more days and nights, 940 miles to go. I spend my time reading, listening to podcasts, listening to the radio and watching movies. The rest is downloading the weather forcast, writing emails, trimming the sails, checking the course, eating, shaving and having showers in the cockpit.

The northern cliffs of Vava’u , the biggest island of Tonga’s Vava’u group. Let’s see what the other side looks like.

Good morning to all of you. Have a nice day!

I made it half way around the world! I crossed 169° of longitude which is on the opposite side of the globe from home. Easy was racing across the meridian in 25-30 kn of wind, surfing down the waves with a max. speed of 11 kn. All with windvane steering.

This is my twin headsail configuration. It is nicely balanced and works well with the windvane. The main advantage for singlehanded sailing is that reefing is very easy. Just furl in one or both sails. Works well for all courses from 160° port to 160° starbord. Each pole is held firmly in place with three fixed lines. So you don’t have to touch the poles when adjusting the sails. The only disadvantage is the lack of lateral stability. So you really get used to a lot of rolling.

The morning was awful. At noon, it got really awful. Low winds, flogging sail and chaotic waves from at least three directions. Easy was rolling up to 25°. A reasonable life on board was nearly impossible. I could only move around in the boat with great difficulty. Truely nerve-racking conditions. In the afternoon, the wind increased a little. I set both poles, one to each side. So far I have only uset the one on starboard for the genoa. Now, everything feels much better!

Welcome to the team, little B&G H5000 autohelm controller number three. Sadly, your first two brothers passed away drowning. Lots of water inside. This is the list of B&G components that died during the last 19 000 nm: Zeus2 chartplotter (one, was kindly replaced by B&G in no time), masthead unit (two, one was replaced by B&G), autohelm controller (two), depth/temperature sensor (one), Wifi-1 router (one). Don’t get me wrong, I like the B&G H5000 System a lot and profoundly depend on it for singlehanded ocean sailing.

This cold front kept my busy for 10 hours. Easy and I performed reasonably well. The low passed south of me.