The wind came up just before the start (showing the sagacity of Rally Control setting what seemed to be a late start time) and we were able to sail across the line on starboard tack. Soon boats started sprouting coloured sails as they bore away down the coast. After some messing with a new system for the tack involving parrel beads round the furled Yankee, we set our cruising chute and dolphins came to play under the bow. Unfortunately this was short lived as taking off the autopilot I managed to over correct, boat came up to wind apparent wind increased and the chute blew out. Guess it was getting rather old and faded. I dragged the bottom half out of the water and the got the top half down shoving it all down the forehatch. No rest though as Steve was demanding the pole be set up so we could run wing and wing. We changed the courtesy flag from Spanish to Portuguese at an appropriate moment - these days your watch and phone tell you when you are changing country. Wind increased so poled out headsail was a very suitable rig, had occasionally to jink round fishing floats. Towards Povoa further increase in wind had us and others reefing down and sailing main only after we gybed to head for the finish. It’s now blowing a hooley and boats are queuing up to get their berths keeping rally control at full stretch. Special mention goes to Freedom and Mahi who both got engine problems as they tried to motor in; Freedom heroically sailed to her berth while Mahi sailed off, hove to and fixed theirs. Many thanks to crews of Sayonara and Mahi for hauling us into our place after a rather less than perfect approach. Everyone arrived in good time for the Prize giving and dinner at 2100. A’asifa won Division A again, Pirates Moon scored a well deserved victory in Division B and Northern lights got the prize for accurate prediction in the ETA competition. And the dinner was delicious!
image0