11-Aug-2005 -- The conquest of a place, of a location, is still an adventure that inhabits our imaginary. After hearing about the Degree Confluence Project and talking about it with a sailor friend, we too decided we would conquer this point: 41º N 9º W.

My good friend João Oliveira was entrusted with finding a ship that was fit for this expedition. One month after our first conversation regarding this subject, João called me on the phone to make the final arrangements for the D-day. We agreed on August 11th, at 1 pm, as the perfect day for this enterprise.

The vessel, a 30 ft long boat belonging to Engineer Senes da Fonseca, would be waiting for us at the dock of the Costa Nova Sailing Club, in Aveiro.

I arrived at the agreed location, with all my photographic equipment set and ready to shoot, at 12.00 hours, lunchtime. After being introduced to and joining the rest of the crew- Captain Senes da Fonseca and pilots Pedro Pinho and João Oliveira- I, photographer Agostinho Gonçalves, was ready to go and we weighed anchor and set sail.

We left after confirming our route, analysing the wind and GPS.

We passed the pier at 2.30 pm, with the shore on our tail, and we sailed into the ocean. Around 4.30, a shoal of dolphins, with about two dozens of members, followed our boat for a couple of minutes.

Only a few miles away from our goal, the sun was already setting. We reached the point 41º N 9º W at 9 pm, fifteen minutes after sunset.

I took the photographs, testimony of the conquest of this point, I photographed the crew, and we gave the boat a new route back to the Costa Nova Sailing Club. To celebrate, we treated ourselves to a fine dinner with lots of fine wine. We entered the Costa Nova Pier 1 am of the following day, August 12th, and we cast anchor at 1.44 am, thus concluding our expedition, which lasted a total of 11 hours and 19 minutes.