This turned out to be a good Shakedown for both crew and boat!The morning of our departure Lizs' mother, Eileen, and cousin, Peter Bell, came onboard to bid us farewell.Unusually for me, we slipped at the intended time of 1200hrs and headed south in brilliant sunshine but no wind. After 3hrs mother nature finally relented and gave us 8-10 knots of wind, so the donk (engine) was turned off and betsy (the windvane self steering gear) was set. As the 1st night shift started (2200hrs) the wind dropped again so donk back on, meaning Steve and I had to helm through our watches, Liz had obviously had a word and the wind picked up just before she came on watch, giving her a uneventful but quiet sail in the starlight. We had a relaxing day with NE force 4 winds and betsy doing the work. Rattlers were consumed And G & Ts by Liz. At 1630hrs we were Joined for a time by a small family of dolphins. All the crew's spirits were lifted by this. Then the wind increased so sails were reefed and by 1730hrs the wind was a healthy force 6, the echo sounder finally gave up trying to give depth with 183m of water under the keel. The 2nd night sail was good, keeping an average speed of 7.5 knots, Steve had to radio an overtaking freighter to alert them of our presence, and a dutch warship had obviously been warned of my driving skills and called me to agree tactics to avoid collision. The sea had been building through the night and at 0550hrs Liz and Steve had a rude awakening as a large breaker decided we had been upright too long and put Shearwater on her side. Although this was a little alarming, the only casualties were the loss of most of a bag of sugar, the landing net to Davey Jones, and the microwave, which took a brief flight across the engine cover to the chart table before coming to land on the floor in more pieces than it left in!! As It is along time since then, to fill in briefly, We were treated to the most amazing sight of Luminous Dolphins at night along the Portugese coast, stopped to visit friends in Cascais and Portamao,we made it to Gibralta and Steve flew back to the UK after a few days on the rock. Liz and I are now coast hopping along the Spanish coast heading towards Ibiza. Picture.. Smoking in the workplace, naughty!