Supercharged Ted has arrived on board and is currently guarding the companionway in anticipation of the voyage. It’s been a miserable day here from a weather point of view. We were ready to ascend the mast and check the rigging at 0600 but we had squall line after squall line passing through and although Charles was ready and keen for the ascent John vetoed it on the basis we needed a relaxed view of what was going on aloft. In those wind speed you need gorilla strength to hang on 80 ft above the deck and that is not readily understood by those down below. So – Charles and John took off to get the last of the jerry cans for the on deck fuel and a timber board to brace them against the Bum Bars at the mast. This proved an exercise as the local timber merchant would only sell us a 20 ft plank of 10 by 1 and we only needed 56 inches. After a tour of the island timber merchants we eventually found one that would play. We also collected a range of miscellaneous bits we needed to sea fasten the cans which when full will weigh 60 lbs each or 300 lbs in total – not an insignificant weight to keep anchored on a boat in a seaway. It will however give us more than two full extra days under motor. Kuki has been locked in the galley all day – with all other crewmember banned to the deck even though it’s been pouring with rain!! She has cooked and now frozen something like 14 days of meals. She has had the local herb supplier (Joe) running around like a lunatic collecting her needs, none of which really exceed a couple of dollars in value. He seems quite happy and with every delivery turns up with two more mangos for her. We have enough to feed an army! We cut and made up the board to secure the jerry cans and then moved on to stowing the after sail locker. We have a great picture of Charles head appearing from a locker and we will post this later. By the end of the day and despite the rain the crew were well on the way to being ready for sea. The boat is now basically packed and as a result of the car boot sale we held we now seem to have lots of space available – so – we will be shopping again for cookies and the likes of mars bars. This evening we were finished by 1800 and Kuki of course had a meal ready. For the first time we all sat around the saloon table with our meal and selected drinks and John was heard to comment – “it looks as though we have a crew”.