There was a 'gate start' to today's race, meaning that all boats had to pass the start line between 6am and 6.30am. We passed the line at about 6.15am. Sadly, there was very little wind and the sea was glassy calm, so we all had to motor sail for several hours before we could switch off the engine. As we approached Cape St Vincent, the wind picked up dramatically and we had an exciting sail, with gusts of over 30 knots at times. When we were at 90 degrees to Cape St Vincent, we dropped our ensign in the age old tradition, as a mark of respect to Admiral Nelson.
A short while later, we rounded the corner into the Algarve. This was when the wind calmed down again. We continued to sail for a little while, but it meant tacking several times. There is a bridge just before you enter Lagos marina and the last time it is opened to let boats through is 9.30pm. If we arrived after this time it would mean having to spend the night on the arrival pontoon outside the marina. At about 6.30pm, we decided to put the engine on again and motor sail the final few miles, to ensure we made this deadline. Many other of the boats followed suit, although one or two of the quicker boats succeeded in sailing this last few miles.
We were allocated a berth next to Moonstream and Caroline, Tim, Jim, Ken and Sue invited us over for a delicious supper of Coq-au-vin. We had a fantastic evening and shared our most memorable moments from the Rally. One of the highlights of the evening was when Caroline produced a home made Christmas Cake she had brought with her from Mexico City, prior to the Rally! It was quite surreal eating Christmas cake in June when the weather was so warm. Before we bid our farewells for the night, Steve challenged Tim to a game of chess the following morning. They had both spoken about this game since Plymouth but had somehow never got around to playing a game.
Steve and I went to bed exhausted but proud of the fact that we had made it all the way to Lagos in Scarlet Lady. We had planned the trip for so long, but it was difficult to comprehend we had actually crossed the Bay of Biscay and sailed all along the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal in just under a month. We are now looking forward to continuing our adventures on Scarlet Lady as we plan to carry on and sail into the Mediterranean where we will spend a few years exploring.