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Raggy Doll - 25th, 26th June - The stowaway exposed! The Raggy Doll.



The sail from Peniche to Oeiras was pretty uneventful, we left Peniche around 0815 and as we were pretty knackered we really just wanted to get to Oeiras as fast as possible. We motor sailed the whole way and just before reaching Oeiras came round headland with winds just about perfect, that we reached the dizzy speed of nine and a half knots. Wiki Wiki was hot on our tail and it was only when we had to take the sails down that she out sailed us as she has lots of electric gadgets that operate sails etc, whereas we have to do everything manually. Not helped by the fact that Andrew let go of the wheel to take an action picture of Wiki Wiki, making getting down the main sail down slightly harder work than usual!
Our berth in the marina was luxury compared to the night of rafting, we had power and water nearby, proper 5 star accommodation.
There was a get together on Blonde Moment as Paul and Dee were celebrating their 29th wedding anniversary, quite by fluke we had a nice bottle of pink wine on board called Boy Meets Girl that we gave them. Paul from Mila of Falmouth had his 65th birthday the next day, AJ picked an appropriate present from the lucky dip bag, round Union Jack wrapped chocolates that we gave him.
On returning to the boat we decided it was time for our additional crew member to see the light of day, the Raggy Doll, apart from the yacht is the only one who is able to say she's done the whole trip, including Biscay, she doesn't get sea sick or food poisoning, never complains and if you stick her in the microwave for a couple of minutes she'll warm you up, a great asset for any crew. She was reverently hoisted up the spinnaker halyard, wearing her life jacket, of course and allowed to check out the amazing scenery.
Monday was a trip day, a gunpowder factory that was closed, security opened up especially for the tour, a look around poets park, that is a massive garden area with statues of famous deceased Portuguese poets, a visit to the historical palace of Pombal and ending up at a winery in the palace grounds, where we purchased 6 bottles of rather nice fortified wine. The afternoon was spent stocking up on provisions, copious amounts of washing and trying to chill in between.
In the evening the whole rally met up for prize giving where our crew were presented with a rather nice bottle of port, this was because we had missed the trip to the Port cellar in Porto and for managing to catch up with the rally. Everyone then ate at a brand new restaurant on the marina, with white and red sangria and excellent food.

Sally Dolden

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