Funchal is a fascinating small town, with a Mediterranean atmosphere and lots of good coffee shops, bars and restaurants. With good weather forecast for the day, we did a variety of things, including a jeep safari around the eastern part of the island. After enjoying the safari, Martin Craven wrote “We went on a half day trip which reached over 1800 metres via the Nun’s Valley - great views but freezing at 2c before wind chill! The valley was very reminiscent of Waimea Canyon in Kauai, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.”
Here’s one other hand from Thursday’s pivot teams, where David Jones and Simon Richards were the only pair to bid and make 7S.
The auction, playing strong and fives, 2/1, with EW silent was:
| N | S |
| 1S | 2D |
| 3S | 4D |
| 4NT | 5H |
| 5NT | 6D (showing KD) |
| 7S |
and there was nothing in the play.
On Friday we played two pairs events – open pairs in the afternoon and IMP pairs in the evening. This hand must qualify for the flattest hand of the week so far. On board 22 in the IMP pairs, every NS bid 4S, almost everyone got a small heart lead, and everyone made 10 tricks. Presumably none of the EW pairs considered saving in 5H as the vulnerability was unfavourable. So no cross-imps for anyone!
The open pairs was won by Peter Breakell and John Osmond and the IMP Pairs by David Jones and Jan Duncan. It’s great to see so many different winners throughout the week.