Volvo Ocean Race Galway News and Information

The Green Dragon Volvo Open 70 has completed its passage from Dublin to the start port of the 2008-09 race in Alicante.

Skipper Ian Walker reflected on the 1,500-mile delivery – an easier task than the wet and wild 2,000-mile race qualifier the boat covered earlier this month. In his latest onboard blog, he provides an insight into the harsh existence aboard the new generation of Volvo Open 70. – never a dull moment it seems – and looks ahead to the start of the race in October. “The qualifier was rough, wet and all in all a pretty brutal trip, this was a slightly different experience,” he said.

“Somehow you can never relax on these boats not least as much of the sailing is done in the pitch black with no idea of what dangers lay ahead. “Last night we spent five hours dodging commercial shipping as we tacked our way through the Straits of Gibraltar into a 35-knot headwind. The day before we had to slow right down to clear a sunfish off the port rudder.

“Life onboard is tough; the trimming, hoisting, lowering and moving sails drains every ounce of energy that you have. We sail in watches with four people on deck plus two of us on standby, while four people get to rest. It is four hours on, two on standby and two hours off in every eight, if you are lucky. “Everybody gets up for any tacks, gybes and heavy air sail changes. All of the food is freeze dried, and there is little respite from the constant motion and intensity of the boat.

So why on earth would anybody choose to do this? “The answer is simple – it is a chance in a lifetime to be part of an incredible sporting event and to pit ourselves against some of the best sailors in the world – we all want to win. We have a fantastic team both ashore and afloat, and we will share life-changing experiences over the next 10 months. “Yes it will be unbearably hot, yes it will be unbearably cold, and at times it will be dangerous. And yes, this will certainly be the biggest test of our lives. It will also be an incredible journey for everyone involved.

“So now we are in countdown mode for the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on October 11. We are tied up in the race village in Alicante and we can see the Telefonica boats just across the water. “Soon others will be arriving too. In this race the other teams are our competitors, but we are all acutely aware that we could also rely on each other for rescue in the most remote oceans of the world.

Meanwhile, the arrival of the Green dragon signals the final countdown to the start of the race for the Alicante start port management team. “It’s a huge responsibility for us. Our job is to ensure they feel at home. All the infrastructures needed to make their stay here more comfortable were in place more than a one month ago,” spokesman Nicolas Figueras said. “During the last week, we have set up the base for the teams, and ensured all the technical requirements have been met.

“Power, lights, water and the telecommunications services are in place. Alicante 2008 will be working closely with the Irish-Chinese team, taking the boat out of the water on Monday and setting up a paint area just near their base, to be sure all the works pending can be done.”

Former Miss World Rosanna Davison was probably remembering the words of her rock-star father Chris de Burgh’s hit ‘Sailing Away’ when she wished the crew of Green Dragon a successful campaign as they closed their training camp and prepared for a final farewell from Ireland for the 2008-09 race start in Alicante.

Rosanna, crowned Miss World in 2003, has played a range of sports, but was shocked by the harsh conditions on board for the world’s most elite sailors as they battle over nine months to win sailing’s most famous offshore ocean racing trophy. “It was amazing to meet the crew and to see the Green Dragon up close. I cannot believe they will race around the world in such basic living conditions,” she said.

The Green Dragon team, led by skipper Ian Walker, was visiting Dublin after eight weeks of training at the Naval Base in Haulbowline, County Cork. Walker said that the decision to set up the training based in Ireland had been very successful. He said: “It offered us the perfect location for testing the boat in a range of conditions. The crew were overwhelmed by the welcome we received in Ireland.”

They will return to Ireland in late May next year when the Volvo fleet arrives in Galway after crossing the North Atlantic from Boston.

The Green Dragon Volvo Open 70 has completed its qualification passage without any alarms and with a sense of satisfaction for skipper Ian Walker after a tough workout for boat and crew.

Having decided to find the most testing weather for the qualifier, conditions onboard were extreme, as the crew rounded the famous Fastnet Rock and headed north-east straight into the North Atlantic. During the journey, the boat was sailed north to a waypoint of 5932 .2N 020.6W, approximately halfway between the Outer Hebrides and the Faroe Islands, northwest of mainland Scotland. The crew then headed approximately 200 miles south of Iceland, before heading south to return to their training base in Cork on the south coast of Ireland.

Walker said: “It took us exactly five days to sail 2,050 miles in predominantly strong downwind conditions in the North Atlantic. The conditions turned out to be absolutely perfect, Ian Moore did a fantastic job to navigate us around a strong North Atlantic depression in an anti-clockwise (downwind) direction. I have never felt so much excitement from going sailing without racing in my life. These boats are outrageous and awesome in equal measures, hurtling along at 20-25 knots in the pitch black and repeatedly piling into the backs of waves that you couldn’t see over 400 miles from the nearest land.”

“Fortunately, the confidence of people like Neal McDonald is infectious and you could feel the crews’ confidence and trust in the boat grow daily. The pace has been relentless. Our best run came at the end of our trip, when we covered 524 miles in 24 hours, despite a few manoeuvres and a very dark and windy night. The experience of guys like Neal, Damian (Foxall), Justin (Slattery), Phil (Harmer) and Tom (Braidwood) really shone through, but everyone onboard put in a huge effort in testing conditions. It is really a huge milestone for the team and the boat to have completed this test.”

“One false move or major structural damage could have jeopardised our whole programme. Hats off to the team at Reichel Pugh Yacht design, ASTA structural engineers, and to McConaghy’s who built the boat – not forgetting Southern Spars New Zealand who built the rig. We now have a long list of small jobs for the shore team the first of which is to give everything a thorough check through, and repair the broken loo! For the guys on board it is time for a Guinness and some Irish stew, before finding something dry to wear! It is strange to feel so elated at having just completed a qualifying passage but the stakes are high in these boats and time is short for the Green Dragon Team.”

“We have to push hard to learn fast and we continue to take positive steps forward to try and catch up with the big teams. Next week sees us travel to Northern Ireland and Dublin before setting sail to Spain on 23rd August.”

The Green Dragon, the Irish entry in the forthcoming Volvo Ocean Race, will arrive in its home port of Galway for the first time today.

The boat will remain in Galway until Thursday and, after more crew training at the naval base in Cork, Green Dragon will sail to Belfast, arriving there on August 20. It will then dock in Dublin for two days, and will sail from the capital to Alicante on August 23.

Galway will be one of eleven stopover ports for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, from May 23rd until June 6th 2009 when it will host seven Volvo Open 70’s and an expected 140,000 visitors. Failte Ireland is the principal sponsor of the Galway stopover which is projected to generate €43m into the local economy.

During the stopover there will be two weeks of festival, concerts and fairs for the general public and it will be free for visitors to access. On the bank holiday weekend May 30th – June 1st there will be inport racing for the seven Volvo Ocean Race teams in Galway Bay. It will provide a chance for spectators to see these premier racing machines up close with the promenade in Salthill offering a fantastic viewing gallery. On June 6th the seven teams will depart for Gothenburg and the final stages of the race.

Green Dragon was designed in the US and built in China. Components were sourced from around the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the US. The Green Dragon team includes 29 people, 11 of whom are crew on the boat. Jamie Boag, chief executive of Green Dragon, described the crew as the ‘‘Manchester United’’ of their field. They include Damian Foxall, the Irish winner of the Barcelona World Race, skipper Ian Walker, a double Olympic medallist from Britain, and seasoned sailor Neal McDonald.  ‘‘These guys will have to survive weeks at sea and temperatures from minus 5 to 50 degrees.”

There are currently seven entries in the race, but another Irish entry is in the offing as Limerick businessman Ger O’Rourke, one of Ireland’s top offshore sailors, has bought the ABN Amro boat which won the last Volvo Ocean Race in 2006.

The Volvo Ocean Race will start in Alicante on 11 October 2008 and will sail to Capetown, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Gothenburg, Stockholm and will finish in St Petersburg on 28 June 2009. It will cover 37,000nm.