264 Port anD the Douro
regatta De são João
during the summer the main road along the waterfront, the avenida Ramos Pinto, is
lined with creaking gondola-shaped barcos rabelos, mothballed after years of service
bringing Port down the douro. once a year on the morning of 24 June, the feast day
of são João, oporto’s patron saint, they cast off from the quayside and make their way
down to the mouth of the River douro. there is much consternation as these unwieldy
craft find an imaginary starting line in front of the huge concrete arch of the arrábida
bridge, which is the beginning of a good-humoured race between Port shippers (it is
billed as a regatta rather than a race). Many an incident has been recorded as the boats
sail slowly upstream to the finish by the Ponte d. Luíz. some are either blown into the
fishing port of afurada (much to the annoyance of the fishermen) or beached by the
sewer outfall upstream on the opposite side. during one regatta a barco rabelo famously
sank and a rather corpulent senior shipper was rescued floating down river on an empty
Port pipe!