Em Português ou Inglês,
sem edições ou traduções,
criámos este Blog para o Ricardo partilhar o que lhe vai na alma.


Mário Trindade e Ricardo Diniz


Portugal tem um novo heroi e chama-se Mário Trindade. Os menos atentos pensam que foi apenas mais um recorde para o Guinness, mas a realidade é bem diferente. Mário Trindade fez quase 19h de cadeira de rodas e juntou apoios suficientes para apoiar quem mais precisa. É com muito orgulho que patrocino o Mário desde 2004 e estamos todos super contentes por termos feito parte deste projecto incrível.


Site: www.MarioTrindade.com





I am furious! I just went into a shop to buy something that is already packaged in a plastic bottle. The guy in the shop then puts the bottle in a cardboard box and then puts that in a cardboard carrier box with a neat little handle and then puts that in a plastic bag! Then he presents me with the bill and was about to put that in an envelope when I just lost it. I mean... GGGrrr!!! WFT??? I took the whole stupid package apart and just put the bottle in my ruck sac. The guy was surprised and even more surprised when I didn't want the damn envelope. What are these people like? Or better still, when are certain companies going to wake up and smell the coffee? This is real shit guys. The planet is not taking the strain no more. We need to cut this out and get real. It drives me nuts to see so much waste evey day. I mean, what would I do with all that crap other than just recycle it straight away anyway? And what the hell do I need all that stuff for? To just cycle home and not need it anymore 2 minutes later?? Change your ways people. Re-use plastic bags, don't print, go digital in all you can (in our business we print about 20 pages a year, if that, even our billing is digital and we recyle everything!) and use your car less. Cycle more. Its so much more fun and it saves you money too! Its really happening out there. The planet is changing at an alarming rate. Stop the madness ok? No more stupid packaging! Grrr!! I need to go jogging now or something. This shit just really hit a nerve. .. grr...





Gostaria de vos agradecer pela forma como honraram o nosso País, pela força, empenho e determinação. Cantaram o Hino como nunca vi. Todos! Alto e bom som! Todo o mundo ouviu! Parabéns pelo vosso trabalho. Obrigado pelo orgulho que nos fizeram, a todos, sentir.





Em 2004 vi uma entrevista num jornal da noite que mexeu comigo pela positiva. Entrei em contacto com a televisão em causa e pedi o contacto da pessoa. Nessa mesma noite falei pela primeira vez com o grande Mário Trindade. Senti uma enorme  vontade de ajudar o Mário no seu projecto de atletismo e felizmente muita coisa aconteceu desde então. Hoje somos grandes amigos e foi com especial prazer que hoje o acompanhei nos últimos kilometros da Meia Maratona de Lisboa. Parabéns Mário, por teres melhorado o teu tempo em 2 minutos! Continua a trabalhar. Estás no bom caminho. Grande abraço.

Site: www.MarioTrindade.com





Hoje sai de casa a pedalar ainda nao eram 7am rumo à Torre de Belém. Fiz 25km. Depois com mais 1000 entusiastas fomos todos pela beira rio até ao Rio Trancão. Mais 25km. Adorei esta iniciativa da Geota e reforça a possibilidade de se andar mais de bicicleta nas nossas cidades. Temos um clima tão bom e cidades relativamente planas. Devagarinho as autarquias começam a falar em equipar as cidades com ciclovias e nós vamos ganhando um planeta mais limpo.

Site: www.Geota.pt







After two years of hard work, determination and good planning, (and a life time of sailing!) the 22 year old Portuguese sailor, Francisco Lobato is about to make history as he starts the Mini Transat race, now re-named Transat 6.50. After many guys trying, including myself back in 2001, Francisco is finally to be the first Portuguese to compete in this race. He has made it through the qualifiers with great results, including some race wins and he is now race favourite for an overall win! This is an interesting challenge as it involves racing from France to Brazil on a very fast boat measuring a total of 6.5m in length... Some 83 sailors will spend around 30 days at sea, alone, with no outside contact except a small radio to listen to the weather. This time around the race also stops in Madeira, Portugal, so this adds extra pressure to this talented young sailor. We are all supporting him and wish him a great race and a fantastic experience! Go for it man!

Have a look at this cool website: www.FranciscoLobato.com






Portugal tem um magnífico oceanário, o maior da europa. É um exemplo de um projecto bem planeado e sustentável. Hoje, no Dia Mundial dos Oceanos, vou passar algumas horas por lá, a sonhar com os peixinhos :)

O Oceanário de Lisboa é um espaço cheio de boas ideias e iniciativas aberto 365 dias por ano. Merece ser apoiado e divulgado. E um forma simples de darmos o nosso apoio ao Oceanário é sermos membros do Clube do Oceanário! Custa apenas 65 euros por ano e permite-nos visitar todas as semanas. Além disso ainda nos oferecem mais 3 bilhetes todas as semanas para podermos convidar um adulto, criança e senior. Temos ainda condições especiais para escolas de mergulho e descontos em diversas actividades.  Boas visitas!

Mais info: http://www.oceanario.pt




Foi com muito prazer, na companhia de velhos e novos amigos que fui ao Teatro da Trindade ver o MindFX. Recomendo. Bem giro!





Foi com especial agrado e entusiasmo que acabei de ler um excelente artigo de José António Saraiva na revista 'Tabu' do Jornal 'Sol' (Pag. 80 e 81). O texto fala no potencial da Costa da Caparica como sendo uma espécie de Copacabana de Lisboa. Passei a minha infância nas praias da Caparica e considero-me 'da terra' e um 'local'. O meu 'spot' para surfar é na Caparica e é para lá que vou quando tenho de pensar com mais calma, tomar uma decisão importante ou ter aquele reconfortante sentimento de 'back to base'.

Desde muito pequeno que tenho assistido a um desenvolvimento lento, algo desorganizado e mal pensado na 'minha Costa'. Edifícios feios, má gestão de espaços e acima de tudo uma péssima noção de como aproveitar a graça de Deus e da Natureza que é ter todo aquele Oceano, toda aquela praia (25Km) e uma magnífica Arriba Fossil, ali, já ali, a minutos da Capital Atlântica da Europa. Desde que me lembro que considero a Caparica um dos locais mais mal aproveitados da nossa costa. Não gosto nem de desperdício nem de burrice! Os actuais problemas nas praias da Caparica causados pela má gestão do homem representam as duas coisas. Há muitos que nós surfistas e pescadores previamos o que agora está a acontecer. Nem dá para acreditar que ainda há uns anos passava os meus fins de tarde nas magníficas praias de São João e que agora não há lá areia nenhuma. O mar não fez mal nenhum a ninguém. A culpa não é do mar. Nem tão pouco do aquecimento global. Aliás, recentemente nem foram as ondas que entraram pelo parque de campismo, apenas as marés, o simples respirar do mar... Estou para ver o que vai acontecer quando o mar nos deslumbrar com uma tempestade a sério e qual será o desfecho de mais um exemplo de uma relação mal pensada entre homem e mar. Meter mais areia? Que medida tão ridícula. Não terá sido homem ou mulher do mar a dar essa sugestão, garanto. Mais situações destas não faltam e começo a ficar cansado, (ou será mesmo irritado?) Ainda se lembram da Marina da Expo...? Come on people! Snap out of it...







Well how about that? Portugal has today snipped the ribbon of the world's largest solar power plant. This is great news on many levels. Yet again Portugal is associated to innovation but most importantly this is a healthy step towards the ongoing challenge for cleaner and sustainable energy sources. We are now one step closer to a renewable future and I am very proud that Portugal is playing such an important role in that.

More info: http://www.agenciafinanceira.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=791133&div_id=1728

Why am I in Belgium? I'll let you know in a few days :)



Well... what can I say. I was lucky enough to go and watch these guys again! Delightful!



I was amazed. I couldn't stop moving. My eyes were watery in true awe at such talent and creativity. Two hours flew by in minutes. I could have seen them all over again. And again. STOMP is more then theatre and so much more than just a musical. It is something like I have never seen before. It gives you hope in humanity! If mankind can come up with something this amazing surely we can solve so many more issues around us. Just get a ticket and go and see it. If you have already seen it give someone a ticket and make them go! Go STOMP! My heroes of the month for sure! I mean, really! When I walked out of the show I could have ran a marathon. SO much energy and rythm. Truly fantastic.

Here is the website for the UK group. http://www.stomp.co.uk/

I think all tickets are taken for Lisbon but there might still be some available for Porto. Go!




January 1st. My nest. Where it all began.


Thank you for the many messages of good wishes to our team. Another year gone by. I am pleased with what was acheived. We worked hard and I am proud of my team and sponsors. My special thanks to Taylor's Port for making the Dakar voyage possible. Thank you Delta Cafes for holding our year together during the Tall Ships Races. Thank you Portimao City for being a fantastic base for our project and for helping us get to London with the Port Wine for Her Majesty.

This whole "New Year" thing bugs me a bit. I think people put way too much weight on it and expect things to somehow magically change just because the calendar has another number on it. It is a life cycle as valid as any other. Like a month, or a day, even an hour. Don't wish for the new year to bring you good things. Instead realise that it is you and your strength and resolve that can bring good things to your new year. Don't wait for the new year to finally get a job, lose weight or paint the barn. You can start tomorrow. Make tomorrow the "New Thing". And when you get good at it, make the next hour the moment of change. We have the daily constant blessing of being able to reinvent ourselves, our attitudes and the way we do what we do. My wish for you is that you have a very happy New Hour. And so on. Make the most of it all. Enjoy. All the best. ricardo





No dia 7 do 7 de 2007, Lisboa será palco do anúncio official das 7 Maravilhas do Mundo. É a primeira vez que uma votação deste género acontece a uma escala mundial. Felizmente, alguém se lembrou que seria uma perfeita oportunidade para mostrar ao mundo mas também aos portugueses quais as 7 Maravilhas de Portugal. Estratégia inteligente. Fico contente. São acções conjuntas como esta que elevam a auto estima de quem de vez em quando desiste de Portugal, enquanto projectamos para o exterior uma imagem de um Portugal dinâmico e proactivo. Boa! Não deixem de participar. Eu já fiz as minhas escolhas :) - Eis o site: www.7maravilhas.pt





Ok, official notice: I love British Airways! I got to the airport 10 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off. With great professionalism and confidence, Emma from the BA shore staff wrapped me in her efficiency and 3 minutes later I was checked in, boarding card in hand and sitting in the lounge waiting to board my plane. Yeah! Ironically the bad weather then delayed the flight over two hours... Portugal here I come :)



Can you believe it? My flight to Lisbon is in 40 minutes and I am stuck in traffic. It is now very likely that I will miss this flight. I am miles away still. Major accident on the M4 has delayed us by three hours! I was hoping for a nice sit down with coffee at the airport :(



This is my first ever blog. I don't really know if there are rules of the road for a blog but I was beginning to feel the need for a place to share stuff that was on my mind yet not quite 'big deal' enough to make it into a home page headline. See what I mean? So here we are. Blog entry number 1 !

It's coming up to 3am. I am in Figueira da Foz listening to the fog horn half a mile away. There is no wind out there. The seas are building and the forecast shows serious weather exactly where would be had we kept going. It's frustrating but such is sailing. Both me and Josh would like to be north of Cape Finisterre by now and into the Bay osf Biscay, but it was not to be.

I am a bit tired today. The schedule has been crazy and it was only last week that this orange little boat was being sailed from Povoa to Portimão. And as soon as we arrived in Portimão the boat was lifted out of the water for a quick refit. She went back in the water the next day and 24hrs later Josh and I were leaving for the UK. I have been taking my vitamins, that's for sure...

Non of this would be possible had it not been for the great team work between sponsors and ourselves. The BlueWater Algarve team were outstanding in their support. They are the people in orange shirts you can see in the pictures. Had it not been for then we would still be in Portimão. Most impressive was also how the Portimão staff worked so quickly and common sense every time we needed something. We have a good thing going and I am very proud of this working relationship we have begun. But companies and entities are only people and Portimão has a fantastic team of individuals behind it, a team who really stands proud for their city and who work together to make things happen. 

Thank you to everyone for all your support. Onwards and upwards...