Green Dragon was the Irish/Chinese entry in the 2008/2009 Volvo Ocean Race and is currently owned by a yacht charter company, based in Vigo in North West Spain. Ten Galway Bay Sailing Club members were aboard for the delivery trip across the Bay of Biscay to Dun Laoghaire. They departed on the morning of June 5th and arrived late June 8th. Following wind and seas saw them maintain double-digit boat speeds most of the way. They saw 21kts at one point suffering down the 5m Atlantic swell which was truly magnificent.
Neither of the two team leads of the boat were able to participate in the race, so it fell to the adaptable crew to organise themselves for an epic battle around the coast.
Young Cathal Mahon (Spiddal Sailing Club) was appointed skipper, a very competent sailor with a calm yet confident manner. He was joined by sailing colleague Rob Talbot (Spiddal Sailing Club)
The highlights of the race were rounding Fastnet in near calm conditions only to be followed by the very tough upwind leg up the West Coast on Sunday 19th where there were 38kt gusts and big seas. The tidal gate at Raitlin was also a tricky period. The light winds on the East Coast proved very frustrating as the boat really suffers in light winds. Overall, they reported a great atmosphere on board with great communication between the crew members.
Green Dragon finished the race in 4 days 8h 54m 21s. They placed 2nd in line honours and 2nd in Class Z to Kuku 3 a Swiss registered Cookson 50. They also beat out Telefonica Black, a similarly rated Volvo 70 The crew for the Round Ireland Race included: Cathal Mahon (Skipper) Spiddal SC
Rob Talbot (Bow) Spiddal / Galway City Sailing Club
Paddy Hennelly (Bow) GBSC
Iso Inan (Pit) GBSC Fiona Christie (Crew) GBSC
Mark Wilson (Helm/watch lead) GBSC
Aaron O’Reilly (Helm/bow) GBSC
Michael Fleming (Trimmer) GBSC
Cian Conroy (Trimmer) GBSC
They were joined by additional crew members from Donegal, Belfast and Dublin.
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