The Green Dragon has moved into fourth place overall in the Volvo Ocean Race after picking up four priceless points on arriving into Qingdao to a rapturous welcome from the locals.
The joint Irish/Chinese entry, one of just four boats to finish the gruelling fourth leg, was welcomed by 500 Chinese drummers against the backdrop of a dramatic fireworks display.
After 14 days at sea, during which running repairs were required to prevent the crew of 11 pulling out of the 2,500 mile upwind struggle, there was a homecoming of sorts for the vessel that was constructed and launched one year ago with the help of 90 locals boat builders in Zhuhai.
Skipper Ian Walker was finding all a little difficult to take in on arrival, considering the obstacles he and his crew face along the way.
“This is just amazing. It was hard to imagine when we broke our forestay that would be coming in fourth, let alone the damage we sustained later,” he said.
“Without the forestay we weren’t able to sail any jibs, which meant we were done competitively for the rest of the race. We knew it was going to get really windy and that it would shake things down.
“We were quite aggressive we went out into the strongest winds, we didn’t hold back, but those are just the decisions you make. I never thought we were going to sink, but if you break the bow of the boat it means you are going to have to stop.
“Fortunately when we did break it I happened to be sitting right there. I heard a crack and I went up to investigate and I saw it. So we stopped immediately, which probably stopped the damage from propagating and that enabled us to turn around and fix it.
“The repair they have done onboard is just incredible. There are 11 guys on this boat who can all look each other in the face and we all have a shared experience.”