A change of gear

Jangada's JOG campaign has come to an ignominious end as she is towed into Falmouth. Returning home with a delivery crew the engine seized as she approached Ushant. After a brief stop in L'Aberwrach to diagnose the problem we made the decision to sail across the Channel to Falmouth for repairs. However, 10nm south of the Lizard, she was becalmed in thick fog, a hazard to shipping and drifting towards the Atlantic on the tide. With no prospect of any wind there was little option but to arrange a tow into Falmouth. My thanks to Mark and his crew from Hamble Race Services for their persistence in returning Jangada safely to UK waters. But every cloud had a silver lining, we hope - as Sophie and I look forward to a cruise home along the South Coast once the engine has been lifted and the gearbox replaced.

BNY Mellon & Clanfield Trophies

And so our adventure draws to a close. After the tortuous journey home we are reunited with our luggage and more importantly our collection of trophies won over both legs - the BNY Mellon Challenge trophies for IRC handicap Class and Clanfield Trophies for the Double Handed competitors.

Flagging Officer

Our attempts to return home have been thwarted. Not by high pressures or gale force winds, but by a general strike in Portugal. Have just spent a very frustrating 24 hours in Lisbon Airport, with TAP cancelling our flight after 5 hours, transferring us to another flight only to cancel that one. The utter lack of information or ability of TAP staff to help is astonishing in this day and age. But hats off to the lady behind the booking desk that did a 22 hour shift, only to return today, 3 hours later - she'd do well offshore racing! We have decided to gybe away, find a hotel and fly home via Amsterdam on KLM. We only hope that a rather flagging Race Officer, Roger is not kept in the lounge for a second night.

The Patrick Ellam Chronometer

The Patrick Ellam Chronometer, used onboard Sopranino during the 1951-52 Transatlantic Crossing, was awarded to Richard and Trevor on Jangada Too - winners of IRC Class 4 over 1,000nm of racing to Cascais.

Route 28 tram

Trevor & I found time today for a trip to Lisbon. An energetic walk up to the Castle of São Jorge, a Moorish castle occupying a commanding hilltop overlooking the historic city of Lisbon. To return to sea level we took the quaint Route 28 tram, weaving its way along cobbled streets, past houses with walls faced entirely in colourful tiles - often looking shabby and antiquated, but nevertheless charming in an unspoilt sort of way.

Chilling

It feels like we have gone from one extreme to another. From full sailing attire and wet weather gear to shorts and t-shirts with temperatures over 30C. To round off the afternoon and enjoy a glass of port, or two..... we needed shade. With an unorthodox jury rig using the storm trisail we managed to generate enough shade to sit back and chill......

Drying out

We crossed the finish line at 12:36 on Sunday. A party from JOG met us at the dock with a beer and bottle of bubbly. Just what we needed after the climax of the race rounding Cabo Roca in 40kts of wind with almost full sails up. No wonder we both needed a siesta before dinner in Cascais. We awoke the following morning to find our rivals moored alongside and set about the usual ritual of washing off all the salt and drying out all the kit.