The Green Dragon Team’s Volvo Open 70 completed its first offshore passage, arriving into Cork in Ireland on Sunday (13/07/08). The boat, was commissioned and has undergone sea trials in Gosport, UK, sailed with a full crew for the 450 mile trip to Ireland. Onboard were two new additions to the Green Dragon Team ; internationally renowned yachtsmen Neal McDonald (GBR) and Anthony Merrington (AUS) have joined the existing 10 strong sailing team. They will add even more experience to the sailing squad, which has four previous competitors of the Volvo Ocean Race, and one past winner onboard already.
Neal McDonald
Age: 45
Nationality: GBR
Position: Watch-leader
British sailor Neal McDonald has a prestigious sailing CV with an Olympic Games, three America’s Cups, three Whitbred and Volvo Ocean Races to his name. He also holds several successes in the Fastnet and Round Gotland Race, not to mention a victory in the international 14 world championships in 1989. For the Hamble based sailor this will be his fourth edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, most recently as skipper of Ericsson in 2005-06. Neal will be one of two watch-leaders onboard Green Dragon, he will sail alongside Ireland’s Damian Foxall. After completing the delivery to Ireland, Neal commented; “I am very excited to be involved in this project. The Volvo Ocean Race has always held special place for me and I have a little unfinished business out there! This first sail has been awesome, it is great to see how the boat can perform, we have a fantastic team in place and I can’t wait to get back out sailing again!”.
Anthony Merrington
Age: 35
Nationality: AUS
Position: Pit/Trim/Helm
Anthony Merrington (Youngster) has 17 years of yacht racing experience under his belt, accumulating over 120,000 offshore nautical miles. He has competed in two edition of the Volvo Ocean Race; 2001-02 with Team SEB and 2004-05 with Pirates of the Carribbean. The Australian has also sailed as pitman with the Swedish America’s Cup challenger, Victory Challenge, as well as several Sydney Hobart’s. Anthony was a key part of Rosebud’s winning Rolex Sydney to Hobart crew this year. He also sailed alongside McDonald aboard Ellen MacArthur’s Kingfisher B&Q on their Jules Verne attempt.
“I couldn’t be happier that Neal and Anthony are joining our team. In my mind Neal would be the first crewman on anybody’s teamsheet. He and Anthony offer this team another dimension both on and off the water,” commented Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker. “Their expertise will be crucial if we are to catch up the bigger teams”.
The 450 mile sail to Ireland was the first offshore test for the new Volvo Open 70. “The boat has performed brilliantly”, commented watch-leader Damian Foxall. ”We were able to settle into our watch systems but we also took time to conduct several sail tests en route. We know what are the key decisions we are faced with on the sail program and we are taking every opportunity we have to learn fast in those areas”.
The Green Dragon Team will be based in Ireland for the next two months; they will remain in Cork for the next three weeks before moving to their homeport of Galway. Upon leaving Galway the team will undertake their mandatory 2000 mile qualification passage. Galway will host one of the 10 stopovers during the 37,000 nautical mile race, between 23rd May and 6th June 2009.. Board member Eamon Conneely who sailed with the boat to Ireland commented “It is fantastic to be based out of Ireland before heading to Spain for the start. For many of the team it is a chance to come home, and it will hope to promote the Irish stopover in Galway next year – there aren’t many better places to train for an offshore race than in the Irish Sea and North Atlantic”
Green Dragon Team biographies
Ian Walker
Age: 37
Nationality: GBR
Position: Skipper
Ian Walker is one of Britain’s most accomplished sailors with five world championships, two Olympic silver medals and two America’s Cup campaigns to his credit. The two Olympic medals came in the 470 dinghy (Atlanta 1996) and Star keelboat (Sydney 2000). Ian then went onto Coach Shirley Robertson and her Yngling Team to gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. When Britain launched its first bid for the America’s Cup for 14 years in 2000, Walker was named as the skipper. Then in the 2007 America’s Cup he joined fellow Olympic medallist Iain Percy as the navigator of the Italian team +39. America’s Cup commitments were combined with the highly successful World Championship winning TP52 campaign as skippers of Patches, owned by Eamon Conneely.
Ian Moore
Age:37
Nationality: IRL
Position: Navigator
Ian cut his teeth as a navigator onboard the winning Volvo Ocean Race 2001 – 02 Illbruck. He spent three years with Emirates Team New Zealand as Ben Ainslie’s navigator on the ‘B’ boat and in 2007 was named as Navigator on the British America’s Cup Challenge; Team Origin.
Damian Foxall
Age: 39
Nationality: IRL
Position: Watch Leader
Damian is the most recent winner of a round the world yacht race, having won the inaugural Barcelona World Race with Jean-Pierre Dick aboard the Open 60 Paprec-Virbac. He has crossed the Atlantic 17 times, sailed rounded the world 7 times and clocked-up over 310,000 nautical miles. This will be Damian’s third Volvo having sailed previously on Ericsson and Team Tyco. He has circumnavigated the globe 3 times on two hulls aboard Cheyenne for the successful Jules Verne record attempt, the Oryx Cup and onboard Playstation in The Race.
Justin Slattery
Age: 34
Nationality: IRL
Position: Bowman
Part of the winning ABN AMRO ONE Volvo Ocean Race team in 2005 – 06. This will be Justin’s third Volvo having sailed on News Corporation in 2001 – 02. As comfortable on two hulls as one, Justin was bowman on the dominant Extreme 40 Basilica in the 2007 iShares Cup and in 2004 set a new Jules Verne record aboard Cheyenne, circumnavigating the globe in 58 days, slightly longer than the 10 months it will take the Volvo Ocean Race boat to do a lap of the planet.
Neal McDonald
Age: 45
Nationality: GBR
Position: Watch-leader
British sailor Neal McDonald has a prestigious sailing CV with an Olympic Games, three America’s Cups, three Whitbred and Volvo Ocean Races to his name. He also holds several successes in the Fastnet and Round Gotland Race, not to mention a victory in the international 14 world championships in 1989. For the Hamble based sailor this will be his fourth edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, most recently as skipper of Ericsson in 2005-06.
Anthony Merrington
Age: 35
Nationality: AUS
Position: Driver/Trimmer
Youngster as he is known to his fellow sailors has 17 years of yacht racing experience under his belt, accumulating more than 120.000 offshore nm. He competed in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02 with Team SEB and then onboard Pirates of the Caribbean in the 2004-05 Race, finishing in second place. For the 33rd America’s Cup he was part the Swedish America’s Cup challenger, Victory Challenge. In 2003 he sailed with Ellen MacArthur’s in their Jules Verne attempt.
Tom Braidwood
Age: 36
Nationality: AUS
Position: Driver/Trimmer
Tom is a Volvo Ocean Race veteran having competed in two editions of the race. In the 2005-06 he raced with Ericsson and was bowman on SEB with fellow Green Team sailor Anthony Merrington in 2001-02. As well as being renowned as an offshore sailor, Tom has also campaigned with two Admiral Cup Teams and has competed in several Farr 40 European and World Championships. Tom has more recently completed the mini Transat Race and project managed the Green Team’s new Volvo Open 70 in conjunction with McConaghys Boats Ltd.
Andrew Mclean
Age: 29
Nationality: NZ
Position: Bowman
Andrew is a graduate of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth program and was a shore team member of Team New Zealand for the 2003 defence. In 2004 he joined the Team New Zealand sailing Team as mid now/ grinder. A mechanical engineer with first class honour from Auckland University by trade, Andrew has also had spells for both North Sails and Southern Spars. At 100kg Andrew will be one of the Heavy weight members of the team.
Phil Harmer
Age: 28
Nationality: AUS
Position: Driver/Trimmer/ Sailmaker
Phil is competed in the last Volvo Ocean Race onboard ABN AMRO TWO and Brunel as Sailmaker and Trimmer. He has recently trimmed for the RC44 Team Aqua and the Farr 40 Grooverderci but cut his teeth with the Young Australia America’s Cup Team and in 18ft skiffs
Scott Millar
Age: 25
Nationality: IRL
Position: Trimmer
At 25 Scott is the youngest on the sailing squad but he is no stranger to responsibility having worked on the design side of UK Sails and having skippered the Farr 45 John Merricks. Scott is a graduate of the Volvo RYA Keelboat squad and has raced numerous boats from Beneteau 25s all the way up to Maximus. At 6 ft 4” and 96kg Scott can expect plenty of hard work but as a former representative rugby player that will come as no shock.
Freddie Shanks
Age: 28
Nationality: GBR
Position: Bowman
A product of the Bear of Britain Academy. Freddie was a regular crewmember on the TP52 Patches being both winner and runner up in the World Championships with the team. Freddie has also won the Swan Worlds on J One and the Commodores Cup on the Farr 52 Bear of Britain. Freddie has sailed with Ian Walker on numerous other boats including several Farr 40s and has recently twice completed the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race.
