42:07.34N 08:50.73W

Finally arrived in Bayona at 1.30 am and were met by the Rally organisers who took our lines as we reversed into a slot. It seems that we are second to arrive with most of the others some way behind. In fact I am writing this at 1.30 pm on Thursday and only 5 out of the 15 have got here so far.

Got everything stowed and sorted and as we called it a day, the heavens opened and it poured, so we did well to miss that! Just feeling sorry for the others out there still.

Not much excitement during the days sailing although we got checked out by a low flying twin engine Customs plane and then a few hours later a Customs helicopter came out to us and hovered just off our stern. They made no attempt to call us on the radio and eventually flew off, but I have been listening out for tread of heavy boots along the pontoon where we are moored in a follow up visit....

Thursday morning:

Sun is shining and generally all of us that got in during the night are beginning to feel a little more human after showers etc.

Of course there are always jobs to do. I think that I have solved the problem with the generator and seems fine now (fingers crossed) and I have traced the source of the slight smell of diesel that was in the aft cabin. (Tony at Yachting Sports – your ears should be burning!!)

Sarah on the other hand is cleaning the boat. She likes a tidy ship! (Surely this isn’t captain’s work?)

Tomorrow we are hoping to meet up with Chris Mortimer in his Najad 490 as he is on his way back to the UK from the Med.

We are staying here in Bayona until Tuesday which gives us time to explore the area a bit (Saturday we are going to visit Santiago de Compostela) and get ready for the next leg.

The Rally organisers have a useful website for following the event.

http://www.worldcruising.com/rallyportugal/news.aspx