Reaction On Volvo Arrival to Galway

The crew of Ericsson 4 do not often lend themselves to huge displays of emotion, but the early hours of this morning saw quite an exception.

"Fantastic," Jules Salter said. "I've been to Ireland before so I'm not surprised, but this is fantastic.” "This is great," added skipper Torben Grael. "Awesome," concluded Dave Endean. It would be easy to assume they were talking about the sailing, their words coming just moments after Ericsson 4 increased their stranglehold on this event with a leg seven win. But they weren't. "They know how to put on a good show in Ireland," Salter added. "And this is just brilliant." Yards away, thousands upon thousands of people crammed the dock, watching on as Grael's team increased their overall lead to 14.5 points. They screamed, yelled, danced and fell over in a few instances: it was, after all, the tail end of a Saturday night in Galway. The sailors, meanwhile, revelled. But it would be inaccurate to say they were in the same spirit."That was really hard," explained Grael."Really intense," added Endean. "So much hard racing. Really tired; that was tough." It was, at one stage or other, six of the seven boats held the lead and for long stretches of time it didn't seem as though Grael would take the top spot. They reached the scoring gate in third place, losing what might have been a costly point to Telefonica Blue in the process. And they didn't actually top a position report until day four, even falling as low as fifth when the fleet headed down the western edge of the ice exclusion zone. When they finally did get their bow in front, it was short-lived. Telefonica Black set the pace for much of the time taken to clear the exclusion zone and even Delta Lloyd held the baton for a while. "We had to really work hard," Grael added. But then the tables turned. Shortly after clearing the eastern edge of the ice zone, on day six they took the lead and broke north with a front and watched on as their two main leaderboard rivals - Telefonica Blue and PUMA - went south. It placed Ericsson 4 into stronger breezes and bigger, more dangerous, seas, while they could no longer shadow their two biggest threats. "Maybe I missed a trick by not staying that side of the front like they all did," Salter said. "The low developed a bit deeper than the original forecast so we were potentially in a little too much wind. But the boat is strong and fast and it pulled us through in the end." That much was clear in the results: after taking the lead in going north, they never surrendered it. "It's nice to get first place. It's another big step towards our goal, so we're pretty happy about it,” Grael said. "But it was hard." Endean was relieved to see the back of the leg. There had been much discussion in the build up to the leg that if they were to come unstuck it would be because of damage - a condition often synonymous with the transatlantic crossing. He revealed his team were beset by problems in the earlier stages, while Grael explained that they broached shortly after going north. "It felt pretty taxing," Endean said. "It was hard on the boat, hard on the guys. We hit something like six pots in about 10 minutes (early on). I'm sure the front of our keel is just trashed. We felt a bit unlucky. But we pushed hard. We know the boat's limits and I think this leg tested them more than any of the others. The sea state was heinous; plenty of breeze. We pushed it pretty hard. Grael added: “We broached, but did no real damage. It was very tough for us and there were things that could go wrong. We took some big risks, but we have a fantastic crew and a fast boat. I really am very happy with this result. We do not get complacent, but it puts us in a nice position going forward. This is a very good team and I feel very proud. We are very happy to be here in one piece." The crowd certainly seemed happy to see them.

Stunned Green Dragon Skipper Ian Walker on the Galway arrival - “The whole point of our boat was to get Galway in the race,” “The whole point of our team was so that Galway could have a stop over & the whole point if that is what you've all just witnessed here.” “So looking forward to the next 2 weeks this is just the start.”

Puma's navigator Andrew Cape on his arrival into Galway - “Really good welcome, surprised 3 o'clock in the morning.... huge but what you'd expect a lot of drunken Irish men around....Fantastic.”

Stunned – Puma's skipper Ken Read on the welcome in Galway – “This, its is a zoo, I mean i've never seen, in the sport of sailing or witnessed anything like that! , it kinda reminds me of the phots of the crowds in Freemantle during the 87 cup as the boats came and went from the channel, what a wild, I mean its 3 in the morning, for crying out loud what would it be like if it was noon, w're stunned, I think stunned is the right word.”

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

Showcasing Galway and supporting The Volvo Ocean Race.

Interested in chartering a yacht for the Film Fleadh,

Galway Arts Festival,  the Galway Races or the Oyster festival. 

Ideal for any occasion with the port being closer to the city centre than anywhere in Europe, contact us for our tailored service.