In less than two weeks’ time Oceans of Hope will be setting sail from Lisbon to make the first of three transatlantic crossings in her 61,000-kilometre voyage around the world.

For Danish crew member, Tine Perlt, who joined the crew in La Rochelle, the experience so far, sailing across the Bay of Biscay and along the Atlantic coast of Portugal, has given her a good idea of the challenge ahead.

The crew has spent some time exploring and relaxing in Porto, and this afternoon cast off their moorings again to head for the port of Cascais, where they’ll spend time getting the boat ready for an ocean crossing ahead of the busy schedule for the stopover in Lisbon next week.

In her blog today, Tine says, “Right now we are sitting in the sun in the marina and are almost ready to head on southwards. All we need is the last bit of provisioning before we set the course towards Cascais with 25 hours of sailing ahead. I am a little anxious for the upcoming night shift – it is quite magical, when you sit there in the dark and look at the fantastic sky full of stars, while you from time to time hear a dolphin breaching the surface to ‘sneeze’ out its blow hole.

“When you sit there and think of the coming trip down to Cascais, you naturally continue the line of thought to the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It is still with equal parts of horror and excitement that I have now got an idea of what is waiting out there. I now have what I hope is some more realistic expectations to what it means to go to the open sea for a longer period of time. I have realised how changing it is to be sailing offshore. It can be both extremely hard, but at the same time there are so many moments, where you just sit and look and all that water, water and more water that you are always surrounded by.”

Tine adds, “No matter what’s waiting, I am sure that it will be a fantastic experience, which I am looking very much forward to!”

After the crew stumbled upon a wine festival in their travels around Porto yesterday Bertram Christensen, Oceans of Hope’s bosun, says, “The atmosphere on board is great after a successful experience with one of the perks of sailing around the planet - visiting different interesting destinations all over the world!”

Back to the serious business of sailing, he explains, “We have 150 nautical miles to the port of Cascais just outside of Lisbon, and we expect to be under way for approximately 25 hours depending on how much wind we will get. We should have clear skies and sun for the rest of the day.”

Oceans of Hope will arrive in Lisbon on 28 July and will be berthed in the Marina Parque das Nações until 2 August, when she and her intrepid crew will set off to cross the Atlantic and help change perceptions of multiple sclerosis.