On going up on deck to keep an eye out for the ship, I was kept entertained for a good half hour by a brown booby trying to land in our rigging to roost overnight - darkness was just falling.

After several overnight bands of squally rainclouds, with light winds in between, we've finally settled into a nice, sunny day with some white clouds around and fairly consistent good wind from the north.

After lowering the pole to the deck, I happened to have a look at the pin which had given a problem the other day - that was fine, but I then noticed that another big pin, holding the pole end to the mast car attachment, was nearly out of its hole! A circlip holding the end in place was missing and there was nothing to stop the pin from falling out - which it was clearly well on its way to doing ...!!