1742hrs 25 Jan 2005. Dunedin, NZ.

Huge week but we seem to be more or less ready to leave. Shopping to do tomorrow and a few finishing tasks – trivial things like shortening lifelines because the pulpitThe railing at the bow of a boat, which sometimes extends past the deck. was distorted and too hard to bend back so port lines now too long…

If all goes well, we will leave on the tide tomorrow afternoon at about 1600 local time [ed: 1300hrs SYD time, 0300UTC – I think…]. The weather looks a bit better than it did from Hobart, so perhaps we’ll get a soft start.

Will call again from the OgOgginOggin: naval slang for the sea, the ocean, where you go if you fall overboard…: naval slang for the sea, the ocean, where you go if you fall overboard… [ed: short for oggin = ocean, ie “when we are back at sea”! – with thanks to Hilary] and confirm we actually left.