Volvo Round the World Race 2008/09

Green Dragon

D Branigan/Oceansport

Delta Lloyd

Rick Tomlinson

Leg One - Alicante to Capetown

  Out of 8 boats competing (started Alicante Sat 11th 2008), there is a strong Irish involvement on 3 of the entrants, as well as the overall Race Umpire Bill O Hara being Irish (Wee North) and added to that, we have a stopover in Galway next May - not bad for a little pimple on the NW edge of Europe. You can follow the progress of Green Dragon (Sino-Hiberno) and Delta Lloyd (Ger O Rourke, Chieftain) on http://www.volvooceanrace.org - catch the power of the boats on the video clips and also see Neptune baptise a few novices on the website - armchair sailing at its best.

  After 4 days, both of the above boats were showing up well in the fleet, keeping close tabs on favourites Ericsson4 and Puma.

D Branigan/Oceansport

  Day 12, Oct 23rd - Green Dragon rounded the half way race mark off Brazil in the lead 13NM ahead of Ericsson4 and Puma, putting 4 points in the bag, with Delta Lloyd making up ground fast from the rear end. Come on the plastic Paddies!

VOR website

   Nov 3rd, Capetown -  Green Dragon finished 4th (upgraded to 3rd on technical penalty to E3) behind Ericsson4, Puma and Ericsson3 with Delta Lloyd taking 7th place, ahead of the stricken Telefonica Black. Read Ian Walkers comments.

Leg 2 Capetown to Cochin, India

   On November 15th, the fleet of 8 boats set off into sunset heading down for the strong winds of the Southern Ocean and in 2 days were back pitting their wits against natures toughest waters. The fleet split in to 2 fleets, the more southerly being the 2 Ericssons, Green Dragon and Team Russia, while Puma led the northern bunch of the 2 Telefonicas and Delta Lloyd.

Afloat magazine

  On day 4, several hours after experiencing a very frightening Chinese gybe, Ian Walker on Green Dragon reported a badly broken boom, making it likely that further progress might be seriously hampered. Puma and other boats were having serious gear problems also battling massive confused seas and all knew this was no joy ride. However, somehow the boys on Green Dragon managed to keep the boat driving under spinnaker and managed a very credible 3rd place at the scoring gate, putting them in joint 2nd place with Puma on 14 points, chasing the leader Ericsson 4.

  Their problem boom will really test the boats resources and if unsuccessful in being repaired, any upwind sailing will cost them serious miles against their opponents. Now all the boats are heading into lighter airs as they point Norteastwards towards Cochin. Plenty of drama still ahead and the boys in Green will be tested to the limit.

  Day 11 - 25th November has seen the fleet dip into the Doldrums and positions are closing up - depending on how the weather roulette wheel turns here, its possible any one of the 8 boats could get away from the pack so all will watching their closest neighbours with wary eyes. Can Green Dragon pull a similar stroke to their Leg 1 stealth play, despite their broken boom? They are in 5th position - 28nm behind the Ericsson twins, playing musical chairs with Telefonica Blue for 4th/5th place with c.1300 miles left to go Cochin.

  Day 13 - 27th November, the fleet is departing the Indian Ocean Doldrums, Delta Lloyd is in 4th and the Dragon is amazing the yachting world - at 1400UT, they are joint 2nd with Ericsson3 and this achievement without a boom! Can they keep this superhuman level of performance up as they hit headwinds closer to Cochin. Come on you boys in Green.

Arrival in Cochin - Ericsson4 lead the way followed home by Telefonica Blue, Ericsson 3, Telefonica Black, Delta Lloyd, Green Dragon and way last, Team Russia. Green Dragon is now joint 4th with Delta Lloyd bringing up the rear on overall. Next leg starts on Dec 11th and will involve interesting sailing through numerous island groups en route to Singapore, where hopefully the Dragon can give their sponsors something to cheer about.

Leg 3 - Cochin to Singapore

  Green Dragon got off to a good start but suffered early on by going inshore, only to have the last laugh as they arrived off the Southern end of India dicing for 1st place with Telefonica Black and just ahead of Ericsson4. This will be a mentally tough leg, with very busy shipping lanes, light airs, risk of pirates and the unknown factor of being in these waters for the first time. Watch this space - come on the Dragon.

  Unfortunately, the Dragon failed to keep pace with the leaders and struggled to take 6th place ahead of a rejuvenated Team Russia, after a light wind beat up through the heavily congested Straits of Malocca. Delta Lloyd with its damaged keel is limping towards a finish on Tues 23rd? All crews will have Christmas ashore to recharge the batteries before the Inshore racing on 10th Jan and then its off to Qingdao in China, Leg 4 starts on Jan 18th.

Keep an eye on these sites -

Race updates - http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ -

Green Dragon updates - http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/

Vendee Globe single handed - http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

Please View Team "Delta Lloyd" in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/9 @ http://625.gaoz.net/vor/  - Regards, Ger O Rourke CEO, Team Delta Lloyd,

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