Took Common Sense out of the marina yesterday to try out her new sails
and her new electronics. Radar wouldn't work but we fixed that today
- just a loose connection.

Sails are superb!! Where in 6-8 knots of wind we would have been
rolling about going nowhere we actually hit 3kn! Unbelievable.
Then we ran out of wind.

It's holiday season here on the Algarve so you get heaps of holiday
makers.

Two boats were headed across my bows out a couple of miles. A Cat was
a fair way to sea of us and was no problem. The other one, a Beneteau
40-point-something, was under motor and on a collision course. I was
wondering when he would do something and then I realised that there were
8 bikini clad girls on the foredeck (one of the other guys on my boat
counted them, several times to make sure) and ONE guy, and NOBODY on
the wheel. One of the girls must have said something to the guy and he
jumped up and sprinted for the cockpit, bore away and just waved.
Guess Colregs was the last thing on his mind up there.

Had a pleasant lunch anchored off Alvor then some wind came back so
we took off in 12-14kn. Common Sense hit 5.7 in wind 30deg over the
port bow. Very easy motion - even took my hands off the wheel and she
ran herself for a bit.

Very pleased with the outcome even if I was most displeased at all the
shelling out of the hard-earned.

Almost ready to leave Portugal and head to Gibralter then Morocco. Two
of our American friends who crossed over with us are in Sardinia and
headed then to Tunisia where we will lay over for winter so we've made
plans to catch up and try to get in the same marina.