SAILING VOLVO OCEAN RACE – WEEK 35, LEG 8 – GALWAY TO MARSTRAND, SWEDEN:WAVING GOODBYE to the huge crowd as we left Galway, I have never felt more proud to be Irish. There were people everywhere: on rooftops, on boats, and every accessible piece of land was heaving with spectators. The support for the Green Dragon as we left the dock was just overwhelming. Galway has been the best!

It was a fitting end to a remarkable stopover. I still cannot get over the welcome we received when we arrived two weeks ago at four o’clock in the morning. The Irish have shown the rest of the world how to host an international yacht race in style.

Boosted by such incredible support (and a nice bit of navigating from Ian Moore), we got off to a flying start. It was pretty lively in 25 to 35 knots of north-easterly wind and we sailed a two-mile loop to put on a bit of a show for the crowd before we left Galway on our way to Marstrand in Sweden.

We had an almost picture-perfect start, unleashing our fractional heavy air spinnaker as the gun fired, and we screamed off, hitting the first turning mark in first place. It was almost like we owed it to the home crowd.

It was only as we blasted towards the Aran Islands that most of the spectator fleet turned for home. We were in second place and the opposition was reeling us in, so we gybed offshore and picked up more wind in squalls of up to 30 knots. We were pushing the Dragon to the limit, charging along at 28 knots, all harnessed on, and it wasn’t long before we lost sight of the fleet.

For some time we were unsure how we were doing. We gybed back and waited with baited breath to see whether our move offshore had paid off. Eventually the other boats appeared through the clouds and we could see we had made massive gains. We had crossed in front of all the big hitters – Ericsson 4, Puma and Telefonica Blue.

The breeze was building steadily until we were all very much on edge with our masthead spinnakers up in 35 to 38 knots of wind, absolutely flying.

It didn’t take Ericsson 4 and Telefonica Blue long to reel us back in, but now in the heavy air we were holding our own. Telefonica Blue broached (tipping the boat right on its side into the water) as they lost control, and Puma appeared to blow up their spinnaker, which just left ourselves and Ericsson 4 battling it out for first.

We reefed our main, furled our staysail and lead into a gybe towards the Blasket Islands. Ericsson 4 followed suit 15 minutes later, which was too late. We were now leading by a significant margin.

It was very special to round the Fastnet Rock in first place leading the charge out of Ireland. None of us could believe that there were more spectator boats waiting for us there at midnight. We have all been truly touched by the level of support for the Dragon and the event.

It was 3am on Sunday morning before I managed to get my head down for a couple of hours sleep, but what a start to the leg.

What a fantastic two weeks we’ve had in Ireland. We were so taken aback when we arrived to see hundreds of boats out on the water and thousands of people lining the docks in the middle of the night, and it just got better and better.

We all have to pay tribute to the guys who had the foresight to put this project together and bring it to Ireland. So many people worked so hard to make it a success – from the sponsors and backers to the thousands of volunteers. But what made it so magical was how the event was totally embraced by the people. We were treated with such kindness all around the city.

On a personal level, it was great for me to be able to sail into my home country with my mother and father and all my family around – my father, Jim, told me it was one of the best times of his life. Let’s just hope the race comes back to Ireland again.

Leaving the dock was sad, not just to be saying goodbye to everyone, but this was the end of the road for most of our shore crew, who won’t be coming on any further. They have all done a terrific job and were a great bunch of people to work with.

I was inspired to take up this crazy sport when I saw NCB Ireland in the Whitbread Round the World Race 20 years ago. It would be fantastic if the Green Dragon has the same effect on some of the thousands of children who came to see us in Galway.

But for now, there’s less than 700 miles to go to Sweden and it’s been a very exciting ride so far.