AHOY THERE: Irish yachtsmen begin their round-the-world aquatic adventure today
"WE'RE LEAN, but we're running mean!" The words of Limerickman Ger O'Rourke, skipper of one of Ireland's two entries in the Volvo round-the-world yacht race, before setting sail from Alicante, Spain, this afternoon.
"Twenty-knot easterly winds are forecast - that should give us all a good blast down to Gibraltar," O'Rourke said.
At 1300 hours Irish time today, his 70ft yacht Team Delta Lloyd and Galway's Green Dragon will embark on the first 6,500 nautical mile leg to Capetown in a 37,000 nautical mile endurance test against six of the fastest single-hulled sailing vessels on the planet.
Traversing five oceans and touching four continents, the new route for this Volvo event includes an Irish stopover port for the first time. And while Irish offshore sailors have been frequent recruits in previous contests, not since NCB Ireland almost two decades ago has there been an entry from these waters.
Irish participation extends to a third boat - the rival Team Russia entry, Kosatka, which managed to knock a hole in O'Rourke's hull during in-port racing last weekend. Kosatka's 29-year-old sail designer and sail trimmer Jeremy Elliot may have lost his Co Cork lilt, but he is very proud to say he hails from Kinsale.
Irish accents even pervade Volvo ocean race management, which is responsible for choreographing the project. Principal race officer is Bill O'Hara, former Irish Olympic sailor from Coleraine, Co Derry, while communications director is Marcus Hutchison who once sailed dinghies out of Howth.
"In grey matter, experience, approach, attitude, Ireland is really boxing above its weight here", Hutchison, formerly communications director with the Americas Cup, said in Alicante.
Sailors like Damian Foxall (39), watch leader on Green Dragon are also among the most experienced in the contest. The Kerryman is a seven-time global circumnavigator and winner of this year's non-stop Barcelona world race with Frenchman Jean-Pierre Dick, while Wexfordman Justin Slattery (34) was on the winning vessel ABN Amro One last time round.
Limerick property developer and Kilrush sailor Ger O'Rourke bought ABN Amro One for his dramatically late low-budget bid. "We've done in three months what some of the teams have done in three years," O'Rourke said.
He freely admits his sailors, including Edwin O'Connor from Foynes, Co Limerick, are "an honest bunch with no big egos,working for a pittance on this race". The crews, facing four-hour catnaps, wet bunks and freeze-dried sustenance over the next nine months, spent rest time with families yesterday.
Race preview: Sports Weekend