Many thanks to all our followers for your interest and comments on the blog - it is a lovely way for us to stay in contact. We don't have a specific way to respond to individual comments other than to place another comment in that part of the blog but rest assured we read them all and love hearing from everyone.

Rounding Cape St Vincent was an interesting passage event in a boat's life. First of all CsV looked a bit like Land's End and Cape Finisterre - all fairly cliffy and pointy with a lighthouse at the end of the earth. The wind and the seas did pretty much what the pilot book says they would do. There is a significant bounce back off the cliffs, so you have big waves coming from several directions. Once round we had 25-30 kts from the north, so we whacked three reefs in both main and jib, engaged the WindPilot, dodged the fish farm and headed for Lagos(h) - getting in before sunset but too late for the lifting bridge, so we spent the night quietly on the reception pontoon in the river.

Lagos Marina is clearly one of the great meeting points for boats heading south to the Canaries or into or out of the Med. It is awash with Red Ensigns and British accents. The marina is surrounded with bars and cafes where all the Brits who come here but don't sail seem to hang out.

Many of the peeps with whom we have travelled down the coast are here, so we're already meeting familiar faces - makes for a nice friendly welcome. There are plenty of ARC flags and CA flags flying, so we will need to have a wander around and get to know some of our fellow ARCers.

But today is Kate's birthday so we are knocking off sailing duties and heading out for a surprise - more tomorrow :-)