Last year was amazing, we knew we had to come back but at the same time we also had to keep our expectations down so as not too be disappointed, and when there's great racing and free beer what can you possibly be disappointed with, ah yes, there was no free ice-cream this year! We did get over that quite quickly.

We arrived a week prior to the start and were one of the first boats to there, over the weekend a few more arrived and as the week progressed the excitement began to build. The Disco crew arrived on Wednesday. Some of them in time for the Welcome cocktails in the Chrysler Villa and the remainder in time to join us for a few more cocktails and some dinner.

Thursday am we met in the Villa for breakfast, racing was scheduled to start at 2pm, the committee boat headed out at 1pm and the fleet followed it's lead. We had 2 races that afternoon, the wind was a perfect 15knots for most of the afternoon with bright sunshine and perfect courses, the wind stayed most of the afternoon but started to disappear near the end of race 2 with a hole just off the finish line just off the town we watched those ahead sail into nothing, this worked in our favour and we picked up a few places as we snuck across the line.

A great days racing over we were back in the "Villa" by 7pm where the buffet had begun, burgers, pizzas, hot dogs, and roast pork, everything you could want after a hard afternoon out on the water. That night saw a quiet night after overdoing the free booze on the Wednesday night. Myself, Matt, Marky, Helen & James settled for a glass of wine followed by some of the best ice cream in town.

When we met on Friday, the heads were a lot clearer and more focused as we headed out of the marina. The wind had picked up and was a steady 18+knots all afternoon. Fantastic, we zipped around the 2 courses, helicopters buzzing overhead, press boats all around, definitely the best days racing we've had all year. Then up to the tent, for less burgers than yesterday as we were meeting up for dinner, we watched the day's footage on the plasma screens, there was the Disco Man and crew in all their glory. That evening we ate in one of the restaurants located in the marina complex and considering their kitchen was smaller than one of Disco's aft cabins they did an absolutely brilliant job feeding 16 of us.

Day 3, Saturday, the bodies were starting to ache a little but when you don't leave the dock until 12noon, you can't complain. 2 races left to go, the wind was blowing a constant 20+knots and for the first time this year we used our code 3 spinnaker, bring it on! After giving the first race away, wrapping a halyard round the forestay meant the jib had to come down leaving us bare headed on the beat while the bowman unwrapped the mess. The 2nd race we wanted blood, not our bowman's! With the wind up to 25kts at times we were flying, Disco loves this sort of breeze and we took 5th place in the last race of the regatta! Go Disco. It was very tough competition in our class, the IMS World Champions were there straight from their win, strangely enough they took 1st place here as well but they had to fight hard for it .

That night was the prize giving dinner in the Villa, a spectacular sit down 4 course affair followed by The Bye Bye Summer Party in the castle. Dinner was great we found ourselves sitting with the President of the Bayona Yacht Club and several press people. During the speeches that were mainly in Portuguese & Spanish they translated a small part for us, Disco was made the Ambassador for Quebramar Chrysler in the UK, being welcomed on to the scene is a huge honour and we're really thrilled that they value our participation that much.

Tufty Two Fists had arrived that afternoon to join Disco for her trip into the Med and we got her from her bed at gone midnight to take her up to the party. This year the party was in a castle above the Marina, a fantastic setting. The main party was in the courtyard and we had a saxophonist playing at regular intervals, spacemen walking round on stilts and us dancing our socks off. Helen had gone back to the boat to drop some stuff off found herself having a short lie down. However the thought of us at the Portuguese Social Event of the year was enough to get her back out and in the castle grooving with the rest of us.

The rest of the evening/morning passed in a blur, did I really see Bob in a nightclub at 4am? Did people really go skinny dipping? How did Ben really get thrown out? Was I really out until 5.30am? The camera never lies...

Sunday involved late lunches and then champagne onboard Disco at 6pm to toast a great regatta followed by dinner in Cascais town. Monday was UK bank holiday so most of the crew flew home late morning leaving just 6 of us for one last evening out in our new found favourite restaurant, Enocteca, a wine tasting restaurant with over 500 different bottles and you can bet we plan on trying them all.....Only 488 left to go, looks like we'll need a few more visits.

A truly awesome weekend, the wind gods attended & with immaculate Portuguese hospitality and race management made this Disco's no1 regatta for 2005. Roll on Quebramar Chrysler 2006!