We are fast approaching the time of year when we all start to use our boats again, whilst we may have been out a few times this winter, our boats have not been used that much in recent months and we ourselves are perhaps a little out of practise. Our first priority should be safety and we should therefore ask ourselves the following questions.

Will I get the boat back safely?
Will the boat get me back safely?

The tides of the Atlantic Ocean have been observed since ancient times. Medieval monks recorded tidal movements along the coast of England as early as AD 600 and correctly understood the relationship between the tides and the position of the sun and the phases of the moon. The use of modern tidal gauges for continuous data collection and of sophisticated computers for modeling and prediction have improved considerably the accuracy of tide tables and the understanding of the individual constituent forces that determine and affect tidal activity.

The Mar Algarve (Sea Algarve) expo, the largest such event south of Lisbon, returns to the Algarve this year to publicise the Algarve’s sea as a productive area in its own right.

The event will take place between the 1st and the 3rd of  October at the ‘School of Hospitality and Tourism of the Algarve’ in Faro, and admission is free.

The holed and sunken yacht Heptarchy, lying on the seabed just off a busy shipping lane near Farol Island in the Ria Formosa, is to be raised and towed to a position in front of an Olhão shipyard tomorrow, Saturday.

The circumstances surrounding her sinking have been explained in detail to Maritime Police who spend the day interviewing the skipper and crew to establish exactly what happened.

Sailors from far away have been visiting the Guadiana for thousands of years, the first to arrive were probably the Phoenicians from the eastern Mediterranean, who arrived about 1000 BC, not as conquerors but as merchants bringing with them dyes, fabrics, ceramics, glass, metals, wine, seeds for crops and olive oil to trade with the locals. They established a fishing port at Vila Real de Santo Antonio and ports at Alcoutim and Mértola further up the river.

The Tall ship S. V. Tenacious, run by the Jubilee Sailing Trust, arrived in Portimão for a crew change on the 23rd of March. On a day­to­day basis roughly 43 people are aboard. The boat is permanently crewed by 8 people who are normally assisted by 3 volunteers, a Cadet from the Royal Navy and up to 40 Voyage Crew. All pretty standard up to here - but this is not your regular Tall Ship. Roughly half of the Ship’s crew is disabled.
Of the 40 voyage crew, Tenacious takes up to 8 people in wheel chairs, prosthetic limbs and and any other kind of physical disability.

NAUTICAL CHARTS have been in use since the end of the 13th century, the invention of the magnetic compass in the 12th century seems to have been the catalyst for the development of charts. It is only in the last 150 or so years that they have become accurate and generally available.

Medieval charts were just artistic impressions of what people thought a coastline was like, often with colourful pictures suggesting the presence of dragons and other awful sea monsters lurking just over the distant horizon.

ASMAA, the Algarve Surf and Marine Activities Association confirmed today that “Surf Schools” are not per-se considered as being “Tourism Activity” businesses by Tourism of Portugal. And we agree with Tourism of Portugal!

Does that mean that this is the end of Surf Schools in Portugal? Not at all, stated Laurinda Seabra, ASMAA’s CEO.