SEVEN round-the-world yachts leave Galway for Sweden via the Fastnet Rock off the south coast today on the final stages of the Volvo ocean race. President Mary McAleese is due to bid the fleet farewell after its fortnight’s visit, and her address at 1pm will be followed by a blessing of the boats in Galway docks.
Such has been the experience of the international crews during the two-week Irish stopover that several of the competitors expressed reluctance yesterday to set sail again at all. “People love us, they want our autographs, why would we want to go?” US skipper Ken Read of Puma said. “And I’ve played some of the best golf ever in my life – in Lahinch and Doonbeg, Co Clare, and at Dromoland Castle.”
The consensus among Read and several of his seasoned circumnavigating colleagues is that only Auckland, the New Zealand sailing mecca, has surpassed Galway as a Volvo stopover – and that was in a previous event. Tourism interests believe that up to half a million people may have come through the race village by the end of the two-week festival. Fáilte Ireland chief executive Shaun Quinn said that the festival had a “significant economic impact” and had given the local tourism industry a boost.
“Significantly, the pictures from Galway which have been beamed all around the world have strengthened Ireland’s image as a must-visit destination for tourists, as well as our reputation for hosting future world-class sporting events,” Mr Quinn said.
The Government gave €8 million for the promotion, organisation and Irish entry in the event and Fáilte Ireland paid €1 million for provision of marina berths and visitor moorings in the area. A team of almost 1,000 volunteers provided essential support to the Let’s Do It Galway team, spearheaded by Galway-based businessmen John Killeen and Eamon Conneely and Northern Irish project manager Jamie Boag.
British Olympic sailor and skipper of the Irish-Chinese entry Green Dragon, Ian Walker, said that crews would be leaving Galway with a “heavy heart”.
Galway and Belfast are among 81 ports bidding for a return of the race in three years’ time, with Volvo Ocean Race chief executive Knut Frostad confirming a reduction in the number of stopovers.
At a skippers’ briefing yesterday, Puma skipper Ken Read presented spectacles to Magnus Olsson of Ericsson 3 to help him avoid a repeat experience of his transatlantic crossing from Boston. The vessel lost much of its keel when it collided with a whale.
A team of schoolchildren will escort skippers to their vessels at 12.25 today in Galway docks.