Galway's great hope, the Green Dragon Volvo Open 70, has completed its qualification passage for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09.

Having decided to find the most testing weather for the trip, conditions onboard were extreme, as the crew rounded the famous Fastnet Rock and headed north-east straight into the North Atlantic.

A qualifying trip is essential for all boats in the race, to prove the crew and boat are sufficiently hardy to travel long distances, for the crew to get to know the boat and each other, and for any potential problems to be ironed out before the race itself.

During the 2,000 mile qualifier, Green Dragon sailed to a waypoint 200 miles south of Iceland, the crew then set a northerly course to 59,32.2N 020.6W, approximately halfway between the Outer Hebrides and the Faroe Islands, before returning south to the team's training base in Cork.

The qualifier was completed with very little damage to the boat, except, that is, for a broken toilet.

"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!" said skipper Ian Walker.

The qualifier is the first opportunity the entire team has had to sail the boat in such challenging conditions and Walker clearly relished the chance.

"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, from hurtling along at 20 - 25 knots in the pitch black to repeatedly piling into the backs of waves that you couldn't see over 400 miles from the nearest land," he said.

Walker said the team's experience really shone through and he thanked the design and building teams who contributed to the boat's build.

Next week sees the team travel to Dublin before setting sail for Spain on Saturday, 23 August.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment