Left Cascais at 8am in fresh winds which strengthened to Force 6 as the day
progressed; fortunately they were right behind us which made for
exhilarating sailing at nearly 9 knots, much faster than our normal 6. En
route we saw many naval vessels, including a submarine and frigates and then
found ourselves being overtaken by a racing fleet also heading for our
destination Sines.
On Friday at Sines we watched the Portugese Navy practice for their big
annual Navy Day Parade. Several warships were at anchor in the bay and there
were sailors and marines on parade marching with a full military band. After
the parade, there was an assault of the seafront by marines in ribs, with
landing craft and helicopters involved as well. We found it rather bizarre
that the band, meanwhile, continued to play the theme tune from Monty Python's
Flying Circus!
Decided to spend a day on the beach, but it was still rather too windy for
sunbathing so we had to find other ways to relax.
