Rally Portugal is a favourite for aspiring offshore cruising enthusiasts looking for a bit of adventure, but with safety in numbers.

With its emphasis on providing safety, fun and companionship between yachts and their crews to help make the offshore passage even more enjoyable, the entry list (which is still open) for this year’s Rally Portugal, is so far dominated by an adventurous contingent of happily retired Brits.

First Entries Received
The entry list is open and the first yacht has been signed up for the 13th edition of World Cruising Club’s Rally Portugal, sponsored by Marina de Lagos, the premier marina on the Algarve.

Rally Portugal 2008 starts on 1st June in Plymouth, England and finishes on 24th June in Lagos, Portugal. In between, the fleet will sail to Bayona and then onto Lagos via Povoa de Varzim, Figueira da Foz, Peniche, Oeiras and Sines.

Now that Rally Portugal 2007 has finished it is time to look back on this years rally. 2007 will not be remembered for it s great weather but the great friendships made by all on the rally and the wonderful places visited. The start in Plymouth seems like such a long time ago, but was the beginning of an adventure across the Bay of Biscay and on into Portugal. The weather was not very pleasant on the crossing but it wouldn’t be a Biscay crossing without a little rough water and strong wind. The fleet all arrived within a day of each other and started to enjoy the continental cruising life.

The final night of Rally Portugal 2007 saw the participants pull out all the stops for a fantastic evening of fun and food in the Waypoint restaurant in Marina De Lagos. This very new restaurant only opened a week ago but did themselves proud in pulling off a wonderful evening that will ensure the rally is remembered, by all for years to come.

The evening began with drinks next to the pool where the sailors caught up with each other and what they had achieved during the day. There was also a large amount of contact detail swapping to ensure that new friendships could be continued well beyond the official end of the rally.

With the entire rally fleet having sailed down the coast of Portugal at the end of last week from Oeiras to Sines in near perfect wind, the end of the rally was looking at being the fitting end it should be to three weeks of sailing in Portugal. The small marina in Sines is a perfect stopover for the rally with its sandy beach and historic hilltop town packed with culture and historic goodies. The participants were invited by the Camara Municipal to a reception at the town hall on Sunday, where the prizes for the leg from Oeiras were awarded. Once the formalities were over with the wonderful people

This morning all of the Rally Portugal Yachts crossed the start line in near perfect downwind conditions headed for their next port of call in Sines. The first boat over the line was Gertha and they were closely followed by Tapestry

Last night in the town of Oeiras just outside Lisbon, Rally Portugal sailors all congregated in the Rio’s restaurant overlooking the river, to be treated by the city and marina to a fantastic party. Now that the rally has only two legs left the participants are getting to know each other much better and long lasting friendships are being made and last night was no exception.

Now that Rally Portugal 2007 is half way through the participants have been treated to a huge improvement in the weather, gone is the strong southerlies and rain and hello to trade wind sailing. However this shift in the wind did not happen until the fleet were all safely tied up in the friendly fishing port of Peniche.

Now that we are at the start of leg four everyone is starting to get used to the rally Portugal routine check out at 0730, start at 0900. Check out is where all of the crews are given up to date weather information as well as the programme for the next stopover port. The skipper of each yacht has to ensure that Rally control hold the correct information of all the crew onboard in case of any emergencies. Once this formality is completed it is back to the boat to ensure that everything is ready for the days sailing.

Over the past few days the Rally Portugal crews have been busy sailing and seeing the sights along the coast of Portugal. On Thursday Morning (14 June) all of the participants were up early to begin their 75 mile sail from Povoa de Varzim to Figuera da Foz. With the majority of the fleet slipping their lines between 0500 and 0630, to ensure they had the maximum time to get to the next port, the day promised to be a good one. Unfortunately the wind was forecast to be light all the way to Figuera da Foz, Rally control therefore decided that an official start and racing leg was not appropriate, as it would just turn into a motoring race. This did mean that the boats were allowed to leave at any time they wanted, so some of the smaller yachts decided to leave earlier to ensure that they had arrived in the next port in time for the festivities.

After a day of frustrating sailing come motoring yesterday, the first arrivals start to come round the breakwater in Povoa. At 1730, Cheroon was the first boat to arrive with the rest of the fleet following on behind. The final boat to finish was Dawn Strider that arrived at the marina at 2330 local time. With all the yachts on the same pontoon the festival atmosphere built throughout the afternoon and evening and as each boat arrived it became a race to see who could get their boat dressed overall the fastest. The story that come out of most of the crews was they had managed only an hour of sailing all day but had had to use their motors for the rest of the time.

Bayona awoke this morning to wall to wall beautiful skies, but unfortunately no wind to be heard of great if you are a tourist but not so good if you are sailing down the coast of Spain and Portugal. As the rally check out opened a flurry of skippers arrived at the rally office to ensure that all the paperwork was in order before they departed for Povaoa de Varzim. BY now the rally officials are getting to know who is good at paperwork and who is slightly more reluctant. It seemed that there were not that many sore heads on the docks this morning despite it being the birthday of Frank the skipper of Goldrush, the night before.

Some things in life are easier accepted without having to understand all the technical details. For example the mysteries of boat handicaps and motoring penalties. A little tricky for the uninitiated (i.e. most people) invariably the Prize Giving holds a few surprises. Well out front though for the most loudest applause at last nights party has to go to Rock Star when they were awarded 1st in Class A (it always helps to have the Celtic Tigers onside!). Winners were rewarded for getting in some good sailing, tactical planning and that little bit of chance that is always involved in offshore sailing. See full story for results.

Despite a forcast for rain, and a lot of puddles on the ground this morning, the day dawned bright and breezy.  A little flotilla had planned an outing to explore the local island nature reserve and perhaps enjoy a post BBQ siesta on deck - given the wind that has picked up it might become an afternoon for the keen sailors rather than the devoted sunbathers! 

Those that stayed in dock were spotted this morning engaged in those neccessary, but never ending, boat tasks.  Systematically turning out all the lockers in search of that vital bit of kit for example.  You know the one, you clearly remember packing it in 'a very handy place'!  Taking apart bits of equipment just to make sure all those fiddly little rings, rubber seals and springs really are as vital as they apear, and, most important of all, relaxing on the aft deck.  Either enjoying a traditional sunday morning fry up, or in some cases, a little hair of the dog... 

Never say the Brits are shy to explore; Rally P crews have braved new taste sensations (you really can eat barnacles), made the shocking discovery that hotels (even five star hotels!!) have no kettle in the room, and trodden (well bussed actually) a well worn pilgrims path to the beautiful old city of Santiago de Compostela. The coach was not quite as busy as anticipated - casualties this morning included half a dozen sore heads and a broken toe (a victim of beach rather than bar) while others stayed in the Marina to mend Biscay damage and set up for leg 2. By the time the Sangria ran out last night food was called for and the crews fanned out across town on the hunt for tapas. Overheard this morning: 'fantastic', 'brilliant', 'the best fish' and 'so much sea food' - testament that Bayona is the place to come to!

 Jeremy and the marina marineros had a busy night as boats arrived in a steady stream through the night, while some crews collapsed for a well earned rest others celebrated their succesful biscay crossing in style.  The boys on Ebenezer were still in fine form to enthusiastically welcome Compaen and help point them in totally the wrong direction when they docked at 10am!  Blue Haven, the Rally's second smallest boat, were the only ones still at sea but all the other crews were glad to hear they were only hours behind and should arrive in the wee small hours.  Through the sfternoon spaces were juggled so even the biggest Cat's could tie up to the pontoons and everyone could put on their smartest togs and trip ashore for a Sangria welcome.  From all accounts a good night (morning?!) was had by all. Read fridays news for casualties!

It has been a busy day on the dock at the Monte Real Club de Yates in Bayona with eight arrivals so far this morning and more due during the afternoon and evening. Island Kea were the first of today’s “rush hour” crossing the line in time for a late breakfast. They were closely followed by the first of the Irish contingent, Hugani, later joined by Rockstar. Cornish Oyster and Baccus making up the other monohulls, with multihulls Tucanon , Cat-Man-Do and Rebel-T rounding up the group. Rally control and the marina dockmasters have been kept busy docking the constant stream of arrivals.

There was a muggy greyness over Plymouth Sound this morning, but nothing could cloud the enthusiasm of the crews of the 21 yachts taking part in the annual Yachting Monthly Rally Portugal. Despite the lack of sun and wind, it was smiles all around as the yachts set off in a light SSE 7-10 knot breeze, but with the anticipation of good winds ahead. The current grey southerlies are forecast to give way to stronger northerly winds during tonight, offering ideal conditions for the 550 nautical mile crossing of the Bay of Biscay.