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Race Finish!


25th April
Noon position 37 57' N 08 52' W - Sines Harbour
Day;' run 115nm
Rig: tied up alongside.

WE FINISHED!!! The hard work by all on board resulted in Rona II winning
line honours at 01:25.15, managing to beat PVD (Peter Von Danzig) by just 20
minutes on the water after around 1000 miles of racing.

We started the day [yesterday noon] reaching along the Portuguese coast,
30 miles from land, with the big A5 kite flying. After a gybe inshore, we
flew a variety of sailplans, including the big one, white sail reaching with
genoa and mizzen staysail. Noticing we were close to PvD, but that they
were sailing quicker, there were last minute spinnaker hoists and some
nail-biting boat on boat racing, which ended with us taking the edge in what was apparently one
of the closest tall ships race finishes. Helming us over the line was the
youngest crew member baby Yoshi (Oisin). Meanwhile bottles of Prosecco from
Dieppe were cracked open to celebrate the result. Beating PVD on the water
was huge for Rona as they are a faster boat (by roughly 10%), who we haven't
beaten in 15 years.

This morning has been spent sorting the boat out, and now the beach
beckons...

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