Dear All

When we arrived at Sines as we had sailed all the way we were the last but one boat in and there was a party underway for two celebrations one was Mandy’s birthday off of Roanda and the other for the Andiamo skippers first Grandson ,  baby Josh who arrive around 0200 that morning weighing in at 7 lbs, it was a great night and we all “wet the baby’s head “.

The next morning we went to the local Fort which was the home of Vasco de Gama , the local tourist office laid on a small buffet which was very welcome.

At the prize giving Andiamo won 2^nd place and received a small cup , we were just beaten by Roanda.

We left Sines at 06 30 for the 80 mile sail to our final Destination Lagos , the wind as usual was around 5 knots  not good for Andiamo to get a move on. By 11 00 the wind had picked up and we were going at 7.5 to 8 knots SOG , and we were the lead boat.

We were then visited by the Dolphins who stayed with us for around five minutes playing around the bow and sweeping under the  keel and out the other side like a rocket , more Dolphins came later and this time a number of them had small dolphin pups with them and they were holding the under their fins and leaping in unison out of the water , with the babies still under their fins.

 At around 14 00 hrs we were approaching Cape St Vincent which is the furthest point West in Europe , and it customary to dip the ensign as you pass, in respect of Lord Nelson which we did.

The wind can pick up around the capes and we had  23 knots, which was not a problem for Andiamo downwind and we were flying along at 8.5 knots SOG. The last mile to the finish a close hauled reach and at wind speed of 18 knot s it was a  rail down sail and as Roanda was closing on us it was a race to the finish , we were 1^st across the line and it was high fives all round and great to take line honours into Lagos. At great way to finish a great rally.

Lagos is a fabulous marina complex and the town looks very interesting , which we will explore , tonight we are visiting some cave and the Rally are giving a beach barbecue so we are looking forward to this.

Andiamo crew