SAILING/ VOLVO OCEAN RACE: THERE IS something about Christmas that intensifies all our emotions. That's especially true if you are far from home and things aren't going to plan. So spare a thought this Christmas Eve for both Irish-owned boats in the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) battling boat speed, financial pressures and a bout of Bengal belly to boot!
What's more, the British leader of Irish hopes, Ian Walker, has conceded after three legs that although the Green Dragon is not as quick as other entries at times, there are still plenty of tactical opportunities to stay at the front of the fleet.
Frustrated by things not going their way and by a series of gear failures Ireland's hopes of success now depend on a core group of sailors operating with limited resources on the far side of the world and bound for China on January 18th. It could have been worse onboard Green Dragon in this week's closing stages of the third leg to Singapore.
A fifth for Telefonica Black in the fleet was not enough to dislodge the Irish-entered, Chinese-backed, British-skippered Green Dragon from being fifth.
Team Russia pulled out of the race yesterday. The news came after the boat finished behind Green Dragon at the end of the leg and is a result of a lack of sponsorship.
A statement from the team blamed the economic downturn and said: "because no sponsorship has been forthcoming the team has no alternative but to suspend racing until further financial support can be secured."
Green Dragon ended sixth and although a tactical mistake this week is cited as the reason for his drop from the leaders, it is an underlying speed deficit that is causing the campaign the biggest problems, it transpires.
Visibly thinner on the dockside yesterday Walker is recovering from a bug that confined him to a bunk for 36 hours in the 12-day leg from India.
Green Dragon has a lighter keel than its competitors and so it is impossible for it to match the pace of competitors on certain points of sailing. It is a scenario that Walker concedes is "'depressing". Despite her self-declared lack of pace, however, Green Dragon did cling on to the back of the leading group until the scoring gate at Palau We at the northern end of Sumatra.
The lack of power is a problem, though, that won't go away because it was a function of conservative decisions at the planning stage and also having to build the boat quickly. At least in this leg Spain finally broke the Swedish stranglehold and this in itself will provide an inspiration were it needed for the next four legs before Galway next May.
Ireland's second entry, the Dutch-backed Delta Lloyd team owned by Limerick Ger O'Rourke, was due home last night trailing the fleet by over a hundred miles because of a broken keel ram.
Despite Ericsson 4's 4.5 point margin at the top of the leaderboard nobody knows what boat is going to win this race yet. Green Dragon is a conservative build that may well fare better over the next seven marathon legs than others who have cut things too fine.
OVERALL VOR LEADERBOARD(Subject to protest) 1, Ericsson 4: 35 points 2, Telefónica Blue: 30.5 points 3, PUMA : 27.5 points 4, Ericsson 3: 23.5 points 5, Green Dragon: 20.5 points 6, Telefónica Black: 19.5 points 7, Team Russia: 10.5 points 8, Delta Lloyd: 8 points.
