The Rally Office opened today in Mayflower Marina, Plymouth, with the first of the boats checking in and getting their safety equipment checks underway. Nine of the fifteen Rally boats are already in Plymouth, with the strong local weather conditions delaying the arrival of the rest of the Rally fleet until tomorrow.

The Rally Portugal fleet will be tracked across the Bay of Biscay using the popular Yellowbrick system, now used on all World Cruising Club events.

The 15 boats entered in Rally Portugal 2011 make for a smaller fleet than average this year, but the numbers will make for a more intimate group on what is always a very friendly and fun-packed cruise down the Atlantic coastline.

Rally Portugal is a great way to sail with a wide group of friends and family.  Don't fancy the Bay of Biscay, or can only take 5 days off work?  No problem, you can swap your crews as you go along.  The stopovers in each port allow enough time to swap crews, and Porto, Lisbon and Faro airports have good direct flights across Europe.  
The Rally Portugal 2011 fleet is nicely matched so far, with Vancouver 32 Reveller being the smallest yacht, and Gib Sea 52 Libertas, the largest.  We even have two Hallberg Rassy 37s, Rassy Girl and Pysche.  The photo shows Malo 39 Jalano.

Come and join us for the cruise south to the sun!