Yesterday, we spent the day enjoying Lisbon and meeting up with fellow members of our sailing club for lunch who were in Lisbon. We also managed to visit the Tall Ships Race on the Rio Tejo. There were over twenty tall ships there and they are about to race down to Cadiz. The aim is to get young people onto the water and meet other young people from different countries and cultures.

The marina at Oeiras reminded us of Port Solent with its trendy bars and restaurants overlooking the marina but with much better weather! The bars didn’t close until 2am but we slept soundly.

Today we had a 50nm sail down to Sines which is half way down the coast between Lisbon and the Algarve. As usual, the wind was too light for sailing downwind for the first 4 hours and then the wind picked up and we had a cracking downwind sail with just the genoa (sail at the front) for the rest of the day. We arrived at Sines about 6pm. Unfortunately, the same great wind and swell that brought us here also made berthing in the marina difficult but with the help of another boat we secured ourselves alongside. The nice thing about sailing is that everyone helps each other out in difficult conditions.

Pictures of the Lord Nelson in Lisbon and Sines.