Greetings from Diana

Ships log 17:30 BST Wednesday 14th October 2009 off Figueira da Foz on the West coast of Portugal.

Welcome to the first bulletin from this leg of our journey from Porto to Madeira.

Let me set the scene for you. There are 12 of us on board, led by our skipper Duggie, 9 male and 3 female with ages ranging from (I'd say) 25 to 65 years old..

Those who had not been on the Portsmouth to Porto leg joined ship on Monday after an easy transfer from the airport. We are a mixed crew, experienced sailors to complete novices but, thanks no doubt to an early bar session before supper that evening, we bonded immediately.

On Tuesday morning it was time to try out the crew. Some were a little apprehensive as we sailed out of the harbour into Force 7 conditions. But we needn't have worried, a boat this large handles the situation with ease.

Soon we were back for a debriefing and lunch.That afternoon, Ondeck's Stokey Woodall - trip organiser and meteologist extraordiniaire, had laid on a visit to Porto for us and the other three boats. It started with a tour of a local port producer (what else), followed by a conducted tour of the 6 bridges of the River Douro. One of which was designed by none other than one M. Eiffel.

Supper that evening was in town followed by an early night as we had a 7:00 start, or would have if local port procedures meant that our departure papers were not signed until 10:00.

We sailed out on our 160 mile trip to Cascais (Lisbon) with some excitement to find, as we passed the harbour wall, ............ no wind.

Not great for a sailing boat. So on went the engine and here we are some 7 and a half hours later doing 7 knots with the iron sail, and nothing to do - except write up the first blog for you.

More tomorrow,

Roger