38’ 12.9N 09’ 04.4W

Finally we have had a whole day’s sail without the need to use the engine! We had a great start at the earlier start time of 0900, and almost immediately the fleet divided into those who were under white sail and those with cruising chutes or spinnakers. The former took a more westerly course while the others headed more south. We finally made enough westing to bear away and set the boat up with a poled out genoa and a preventer attached to the main. (We used the port spinnaker sheet attached to a block on the pulpit.)We  made excellent speed and rarely fell under 6 knots despite some light winds. The wind gradually increased and when we were of the Cabo Raso we were flying along with over 25 knots of wind. It was great fun to be so close to Bali hai who were bravely still flying their kite although broaching and having to ‘dump’ the main to maintain a course for the finish line. I believe we finished under 2 minutes behind them with Bouzouki taking line honours again!

Oeiras Marinas was delightful and we were met by a rib and shown our berth arrangements before we had entered the breakwater – that’s what we call service!

Took fuel and then made our way to our allocated place. The rest of the fleet duly arrived reporting increasing wind strengths as the afternoon wore on. This made for some tricky manoeuvrings onto berths but all were finally tied up safely. Blue Beyond had some damage to their radar which resulted in 2 crew members being up the mast standing on the spreader to fix it back in place! It certainly gave the visitors to the marina something to watch on Thursday morning from the cafes which line the marina’s north east boundary.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Oeiras and found the facilities excellent. The tour of the area provided by the local council was interesting although we were glad to get back to the marina for a cooling off swim in the lovely salt-water  pool on site!

The prise giving dinner at a delightful beach side restaurant was fantastic and the ‘icing on the cake’ came when we found out we had actually won the race. Having a free day on the Friday was also a bonus some folk went off to Lisbon and our newly arrived crew – Bert and Gerry did just that. Bob and I decided to walk to the old town (via a very scenic route) we finally managed to find the market and the old church before heading back through some lovely gardens providing some much needed shade.

Another session at the pool was called for and I was later joined by Bert and Gerry who had returned from Lisbon rather tired and hot! The evening was rounded off by a wonderful meal at the restaurant above the pool where we ate one of the best meals of the trip to date.

Race to Sines Saturday 21^st June (mid summers day)

After a very tentative start due to light winds and a very strong current heading out of the river Tejo we were soon romping along and with additional crew on board hoisted the cruising chute for a while. We had a large school of dolphins around the boat for some time and later briefly watched a pod of 3 pilot whales pass us by! Fantastic. We poled out the chute for the first time and used it more like a spinnaker and were pleased with the results. Now sailing along in glorious sunshine achieving 6.5 knots across the ground.

Jacky Bob Bert and Gerry