Wow

What a sail we had. The race began slowly in fact we drifted over the start line at 0700 and everyone started their engines as soon as it was announced the ‘rule’ was suspended! It did not take too long for the forecasted wind to fill in and we were off on the final leg of our rally Portugal! (We can’t believe how quickly the time has gone bye because we’re enjoying it so much!) It wasn’t long before we were joined by dolphins again – it doesn’t matter how often they come it always seems so special to be able to watch them frolic in the bow and stern waves!

As the wind increased so did our speed – we were fairly near the back of the fleet to begin with as our engine does not manage more than 6.5 knots. We were glad to receive warnings from the front runners who radioed warnings of wind speeds over 30 knots. Before we approached cape St. Vincent we took precautionary reefs in both the main sail and the gib. Boy were we glad we had! Between the cape and the finish we recorded over 40 knots of wind at times! However the sun shone the seas were relatively flat and so the whole experience didn’t seem so bad!

We won the race from Figuera to Oeiras which was really brilliant with a very close finish.

Our friends Bertie and Gerry are here at the moment and we have had a walk around the old town - lots of narrow cobbled streets and cafes and bars - we were looking for a suitable restaurant to celebrate Bert's 60th birthday tomorrow!

Tonight is the final party of the rally - can't believe it has gone so quickly. Several of the boats will be staying here in Lagos so I'm sure we will continue to party with them.

 Jacky and Rob