http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/ en lucy.harwood@intotheblue.biz Copyright 2009 2009-07-02T06:54:49+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/thank-you1/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/thank-you1/#When:06:54:49Z Over 37,000 miles completed, 10 legs, 11 stopover ports and so many memories along the way.  It has been a tough campaign and an emotional rollercoaster at times but there is nothing else I would rather have been doing. Over 37,000 miles completed, 10 legs, 11 stopover ports and so many memories along the way.  It has been a tough campaign and an emotional rollercoaster at times but there is nothing else I would rather have been doing. I’m delighted we finished every leg - that was one of our goals, very important to me and important to the team. It feels great to finish and bring the whole project to a successful conclusion. As a skipper there is always relief to have returned everyone home safely to their loved ones. The team said goodbye in St Petersburg and the Green Dragon is now en route back to her home in Ireland. It has been an  amazing experience for everyone involved in the race and everyone in the Green Dragon team should be proud of what we have achieved. Who will ever forget the home town welcomes in Qingdao and Galway? Who onboard will forget the fantastic night time sails, the sight of the icebergs or the fear of the unknown. There are so many people to thank and the list would be too long to write.  But thanks to the Irish syndicate and the board of lets do it Global - this wouldn’t have been possible without you.  To everyone at Let’s do it Galway you made one of the most memorable stopovers of this or any Volvo race and a welcome that all of the teams will remember for a long time to come.  Our time in Galway was just amazing, thank you to everyone who came to Galway and supported the event, it wouldn’t have been the same without you. To all our sponsors, Discover Ireland, SDLG, Weichai Power, Triangle Tyres, Berg Propulsion, Bwin and United Games, you are all part of the Green Dragon family and it has been a pleasure to work with you all and thank you for making this project a reality. To our Chinese supporters and the welcome in Qingdao, 500 drummers playing in the middle of the night will be hard to forget! To our team suppliers for all your support, and keeping us kitted out on our adventure!  To Lets Do It Green and all those who never giving up the hunt for more funds to keep the team alive. To the shore team who made sure we always made the start and finish lines, for keeping us all on the road, making sure that we were looked after and always got from a to b. To my crew, it has been a pleasure to sail with you all. Thank you for your patience and support, for keeping your spirits up and for always giving everything you had to the task ahead.   I am incredibly proud of all of you and for the attitude of the team as a whole, we always gave our best – we could do no more. Finally thank you to all our supporters from around the world, we do read your emails and it is great to hear so many messages of support when you are out racing. You have all done the Dragon proud and we thank you for your unwavering support. Life without this race will be very strange, I have loved every minute of it and thanks to the all the other teams and to Volvo for running such a fantastic event. It is less than three years until the next race and maybe we will all see each other again soon! Go the Dragon! 2009-07-02T06:54:49+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/thank-you/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/thank-you/#When:16:33:21Z Time is running down in the 08/09 Volvo Ocean Race. We have had the last In Port race, the last pro-am race, the last day of corporate sailing and the last Green Dragon Party. We have had the last leg start and the miles are running down on leg 10. There will be a big void when this is all o Time is running down in the 08/09 Volvo Ocean Race. We have had the last In Port race, the last pro-am race, the last day of corporate sailing and the last Green Dragon Party. We have had the last leg start and the miles are running down on leg 10. There will be a big void when this is all over. No more sail changes, no more position reports, no more weather downloads, no more blogs, and no more navigational decisions. There will be things I will not miss for a second - like losing miles to other boats, the lack of sleep, the hot, the cold, the damp and smelly clothes, the freeze dried food, moving sails and stacking gear, but it is amazing how quickly these will be forgotten. Memories that will last forever are the fantastic night skies, the camararderie onboard, the countries we have been, the friends we have made, the fun the race has brought to so many who follow it - and of course the incredible sailing in these boats. It is a privelege to sail in this fantastic race and I am very proud to have had the chance. I am proud of every member of our team and I am proud of what we have achieved together. I hope to have the chance to sail this race again. Thank you to all the officials, the volunteers, the sponsors and the teams - without every one of you there could be no Volvo Ocean Race. Thanks also to everyone who has supported the Green Dragon. We promised to give it everything and to never ever give up and that is exactly what we have done. We haven’t won this race but we have won many battles and achieved more than many dreamed possible. It has been a very special year. Go the Dragon! Ian Walker - Skipper 2009-06-26T16:33:21+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/my-heart-in-my-mouth/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/my-heart-in-my-mouth/#When:14:17:42Z We have just passed over a rocky ledge between 2 islands and I had my heart in my mouth as the depth dropped to 1.9 metres below the keel - I prayed the chart was accurate and breathed a sigh of relief as the depth shot back up. That’s enough of those scares for 1 day. Other than that no real change out here in the Gulf of Finland. We have just passed over a rocky ledge between 2 islands and I had my heart in my mouth as the depth dropped to 1.9 metres below the keel - I prayed the chart was accurate and breathed a sigh of relief as the depth shot back up. That’s enough of those scares for 1 day. Other than that no real change out here in the Gulf of Finland. We have good wind, flat water and the sun is shining. Believe it or not we have still not done a sail change all leg! We were hoping this could be a new Volvo Race record if we maintained it to St Petersburg but unfortunately the organisers have added an extra 30 mile triangle to the course which means we will need other sails. This is very unpopular with the crew as there is nothing worse than seeing the milage to the finish increase - particularly on the last leg when all you want to do is finish. It is especially unpopular with Phil Harmer who believe it or not is flying straight out at 1900 to race in the 18ft skiff worlds in France on Sunday! Anyway I don’t suppose another 30 miles will kill us after doing 37,000. Hopefully we will hold off Delta lloyd although they are gaining rapidly up behind and to windward. 2009-06-26T14:17:42+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/here-we-go-again/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/here-we-go-again/#When:20:12:49Z Here we go again - sailing upwind and slowly losing miles. I will not miss this when the race ends. Fortunately it cannot last for days as St Petersburg is less than 300 miles away. What a great city Stockholm is - it is definitely another place on my list that I will need to come and visit again Here we go again - sailing upwind and slowly losing miles. I will not miss this when the race ends. Fortunately it cannot last for days as St Petersburg is less than 300 miles away. What a great city Stockholm is - it is definitely another place on my list that I will need to come and visit again. That city is built to host maritime events and the Archipelago is built for cruising. After the long but picturesque motor to the start off Sandham we made a good start to the leg and enjoyed holding off Ericsson 4 and others for a leg or 2. Now everybody is engaged in a drag race on port tack and we are nearly halfway to Estonia. Hopefully something will change in the weather at some point to shake up proceedings. For now it is a question of doing the best we can to stay in touch with the other boats. The conditions are perfect with flat water, medium winds and sunshine - who knows maybe we can get to St Petersurg without getting wet? 2009-06-25T20:12:49+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/coastal-sailing/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/coastal-sailing/#When:16:07:53Z The wind has filled back in again out here in the Baltic and we have a mere 95 miles to go to Stockholm. It has been a tight battle all the way with Telefonica Black and Delta Lloyd. We have made a bit of a jump on Delta Lloyd recently and I just hope we can hold on to this edge over the next 5 or 6 hours. Tele Black are about 500 metres ahead so we are keeping the pressure on them. We can still see the leaders ahead but it would need a ‘park up’ for us to catch them from here.  The wind has filled back in again out here in the Baltic and we have a mere 95 miles to go to Stockholm. It has been a tight battle all the way with Telefonica Black and Delta Lloyd. We have made a bit of a jump on Delta Lloyd recently and I just hope we can hold on to this edge over the next 5 or 6 hours. Telefonica Black are about 500 metres ahead so we are keeping the pressure on them. We can still see the leaders ahead but it would need a ‘park up’ for us to catch them from here. This leg has been fast and furious but will be remembered for Telefonica Blue’s crash on the rocks. We still don’t know how serious this is but we have heard that thankfully nobody was injured. The last thing Jamie said to me when we left Marstrand was to not hit the rocks! This coastal sailing is good fun but very demanding in these boats - I think we have moved the sails more on this leg than any other! Not long to go now before this great adventure is over. There is a distinct end of term feel to things as people start to worry about what they will do next. For me I am still not thinking much beyond St Petersburg - from here it is only 1 in port race and 500 miles away - less than a Fastnet Race! 2009-06-15T16:07:53+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/dramatic-start/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/dramatic-start/#When:23:24:48Z Its been a dramatic day on leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race with Telefonica Blue hitting a rock at 15 knots shortly after leaving Marstrand. We were 10 boat lengths behind them at the time and we were able to head up and around the rock. Ian Moore assures me he knew all about it and was looking at the rock on the chart at the exact moment that they hit! Hopefully nobody is injured as running aground at even 10 knots can be very nasty indeed. After falling into no wind shortly after the start we sailed well to pick our way up into 1st place at mark Its been a dramatic day on leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race with Telefonica Blue hitting a rock at 15 knots shortly after leaving Marstrand. We were 10 boat lengths behind them at the time and we were able to head up and around the rock. Ian Moore assures me he knew all about it and was looking at the rock on the chart at the exact moment that they hit! Hopefully nobody is injured as running aground at even 10 knots can be very nasty indeed. After falling into no wind shortly after the start we sailed well to pick our way up into 1st place at mark 1. We left the bay in 2nd but sadly got passed by everyone in the power reaching conditions that have been our achilles heel all race. It has been champagne sailing conditions and as I write this at 11 pm, just 8 hours after the start we have already covered one third of the distance to Stockholm.  We have been having a great battle with Delta Lloyd and currently we are just under a mile ahead of them. Looking ahead the weather looks bad for those behind. If we make good progress we will just avoid a huge area of light wind and make very good time to Stockholm - maybe even finishing in 24 hours. If on the other hand we fall behind schedule then the wind will disappear and our trip to Stockholm could double in duration. We need to find a way of catching the leaders before either of these eventualities transpires. 2009-06-14T23:24:48+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/tremendous-sailing/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/tremendous-sailing/#When:11:47:14Z It has been a tremendous five or six days sailing, it has been some of the mot fun I have had sailing during this race. We were in really close contact with all the leaders all the way round, pretty much from Galway once we left the bay.  We got out ahead and it was great to give the home crowd a bit back for everything they did for us.  It has been a tremendous five or six days sailing, it has been some of the mot fun I have had sailing during this race. We were in really close contact with all the leaders all the way round, pretty much from Galway once we left the bay.  We got out ahead and it was great to give the home crowd a bit back for everything they did for us. When we did get ahead it didn’t take long for the others to catch up, but we just kept on getting ahead time after time again and eventually ended up here in third place it is awesome to be on the podium again, a shame PUMA managed to get back in the race we didn’t think they would but they did. We have seen Green Dragon go from strength to strength it seems was that stopover in Galway just an added bit of propulsion for the guys? Of course it was a boost, how would it not be after a stopover like that. It was one of the best stopovers Volvo has ever seen, but I think the reality is a leg like this is more suited to us, there were lots of opportunities, lots of places where we could make big gains and not like the Rio leg for instance where it is just straight line sailing drag race all the way there. WE can’t compete with that unfortunately but a leg like this and a Transatlantic we can do something with and we have done some good work. I hate to remind you of this is actually a stopover do you have much to do onboard? Now that we are responsible for the work list, we have kept it to a minimum! So absolutely nothing just a quick tidy up to go next week. 2009-06-11T11:47:14+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/an-exhausting-leg1/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/an-exhausting-leg1/#When:11:46:11Z These shorter coastal legs are harder, from the moment we left Galway until the time we got here there was no time at all. We were constantly making decisions or changing sails or planning stuff.  There was one short period in the middle where we managed to rest up and without that we would have been in real trouble.  When we went through the Rotterdam loop and then it was windy downwind we were getting really tired at that point. I guess we recovered a bit and then it was very tiring again for the last 24 hours.  These shorter coastal legs are harder, from the moment we left Galway until the time we got here there was no time at all. We were constantly making decisions or changing sails or planning stuff.  There was one short period in the middle where we managed to rest up and without that we would have been in real trouble.  When we went through the Rotterdam loop and then it was windy downwind we were getting really tired at that point. I guess we recovered a bit and then it was very tiring again for the last 24 hours. In leg where everyone was just up and down the leaderboard like a game of snakes and ladders, Green Dragon seemed to stay at the front since you started heading our of Ireland. You must have been pleased with the teams performance? Yes I was very pleased, it was difficult and we have to get everything right or else we drop back a long way.  We made a good start it was then heavy air downwind which we are good at, we led at the Fastnet we lost miles reaching, but then got it all back by going south of the Scilly Isles.  To be honest the whole leg was about staying south, you had to be south.  I think we were probably the most southerly boat for pretty much the whole leg and that paid the whole way. You and Ian Moore did some work ahead of this leg then? Well, not anymore than normal I think we feel a bit more comfortable in this part of the world but I think to be honest we do better when there is lots of stuff going on, lots of tide, lots of shifts and if it is a straight line drag race then we struggle, the Trade wind reaching was punishing for us, but now were are doing better and heavy air downwind is good for us as well. What does it mean for the Dragon to have two podium finishes? Well its great, and one of the things that is shows is that we are not just laying down and dying.  It would be very easy in this race when you can’t win the race anymore especially when you are tight on budget and you can’t buy new sails.  It is easy to just fade away, and we are not doing that, we said we would fight to the end and that’s what we are going to do, we are getting better we aren’t getting worse and I think the whole Galway stopover has boosted us massively both coming in there and leaving and I’m sure there were thousands of people following the race in Ireland enjoying the ups and downs of the last four days. 2009-06-11T11:46:11+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/great-to-get-third/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/great-to-get-third/#When:11:44:41Z It was very hard work; it was frustrating for us we were second of first for most of the race. Every time we got in the lead, we would be passed and then we would have to do it again, and again.  We did it one more time just before the finish and then PUMA slipped past us.  But it is great to get third, the guys did an awesome job it was really hard work for them, but I can’t deny I’m frustrated we didn’t do better. It was very hard work; it was frustrating for us we were second of first for most of the race. Every time we got in the lead, we would be passed and then we would have to do it again, and again.  We did it one more time just before the finish and then PUMA slipped past us.  But it is great to get third, the guys did an awesome job it was really hard work for them, but I can’t deny I’m frustrated we didn’t do better. How challenging a job has it been for you, you had to juggle so many factors there. It was really complicated with the forecast, it wasn’t really simple, there was a lot of guess work to be honest! We were going on educated guesses, and just trying to do the right thing. Ian is hugely supportive and so are the two watch captains and that make’s your life so much more easy. That is half the battle if you feel that they will support you even if it goes wrong then you’re much more likely to do what you think is right and not just make the safe decisions. It’s good, it is a good relationship. Do you think that relationship makes a difference when you have to push and not have a lots of sleep etc? I am sure that is the same for the whole fleet we probably did more tacks and gybes on this leg than any other leg in the race and that is just hard work on people because you have to get them up when they are off watch, just shifting gear backwards and forwards so it is hard work for everybody and for us to say you have to tack now and realize that they aren’t going to get any sleep.  But people were just happy to do it and I think it would have been the case whether we were first of last so that’s one of the good things about the guys onboard.  2009-06-11T11:44:41+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/the-final-push/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/the-final-push/#When:17:53:08Z I cannot believe how changeable the conditions have been over the last 4 days and that is from someone who has sailed in the English Channel a lot.Even now as we clear the top of Denmark we are having to contend with 60 degree windshifts but thankfully far less shipping. Ian Moore has done a great job navigating such tricky weather and thanks to these changeable conditions we have managed to maintain a top 3 place for a few days now. I cannot believe how changeable the conditions have been over the last 4 days and that is from someone who has sailed in the English Channel a lot.Even now as we clear the top of Denmark we are having to contend with 60 degree windshifts but thankfully far less shipping. Ian Moore has done a great job navigating such tricky weather and thanks to these changeable conditions we have managed to maintain a top 3 place for a few days now. Bad memories of losing miles day in day out whilst reaching in a trade wind procession seem a long time ago. Spirits have always remained high onboard the Dragon. One thing never ceases to amaze me about our team which is that whatever conditions we face and however we are doing in the race everyone puts in the same amount of effort. It is easy to try harder when you are doing well and drop your spirits when things go badly but that doesn’t happen because most of the guys have seen it all before. The watches are metronomic. Hour in, hour out, day in day out and for that I can only applaud the guys. One thing I can tell you is that the race is a lot more fun when you are near the front and today was great swapping places with Ericsson 4 for the lead. They have extended recently but we can still see them just ahead. We have now played what must be one of the last throws of the dice by heading out North on our approach to Skagen. This wasn’t deliberate but was forced by the huge right shift at the time. Now we must sit tight and see if we have done enough to hold off the two Telefonicas. The conditions which have been atrocious with a classic North Sea headsea have abated and lighter air today has meant some much needed rest was possible. I’m planning a little nap now before the big push into the early hours into Marstrand. We have 110 miles to go and I do not want everyone’s effort to have been for nothing. 2009-06-10T17:53:08+00:00