Ocean Race stop-overfor Galway

SAILING/Pre-Olympic squad:Chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race Glenn Bourke travels to Galway next Wednesday to formally announce the west coast port as a stop-over city in the 2008/09 race. However, the businessmen who have brought the race to Ireland were tight-lipped yesterday about the design of the Irish entry for the race and the identity of its eventual skipper.

In the past month stop-over ports have been confirmed in India and China and the US but ports were only awarded the lucrative stop-overs if they could guarantee an entry in the race.

Bourke is particularly pleased in securing Galway as it gives the race an Atlantic sprint leg from Boston.

The Irish project admit building the fastest monohull boat in the world to a tight timetable will be no mean feat. Durability will be a key factor to consider. In the 2005/06 race two boats were out of leg one on the first night while another limped on with damage. Typically there is a six-month design process and a nine-month build on the 70­footer. Build costs range between €3 to €8 million.

The 2008 race starts from Alicante, Spain, in October 2008.

In the Southern Ocean in 2006 keels gave big problems, with one boat hitching a ride on a ship and one returning for structural repairs - only to be dismasted later. But for the rest of the fleet, speeds were phenomenal and a second 24-hour world monohull record was lodged.

Design research work for an Irish boat has been completed. The boat ideally needs to be in build by October. The builder of the winner of the last race, ABN Amro, was Killian Bushe of Crosshaven in Co Cork.

The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has admitted it is struggling to cope with the workload involved in processing ECHO and IRC applications. The backlog - up to five weeks - has become a source of early-season frustration for classes in computing handicap results that may now need to be back-dated.

In a letter to clubs CEO Herry Hermon has promised to quickly "relieve the situation" with the appointment of additional staff. Resolution of the problem cannot happen fast enough: 100 boats in four divisions will race for national handicap honours at the Saab Irish Cruiser Racer National Championships in Crosshaven in just under a month's time.

Three-time winner of Division One Anthony O'Leary will be in action - but in a new boat and in a new division - when the regatta kicks off on his home waters at Royal Cork; it runs from June 22nd to 24th. Adding spice to the fleet will be a huge cross-section of cruisers including 12 boats from Ireland's Commodore's Cup team and 25 boats are coming from the west coast including Simon McGibney's championship winning boat DisaRay.

Yesterday, the ISA announced a five-boat squad for an Olympic dress rehearsal event in Qingdao, China in August. But there was no nomination for the Laser because of the poor string of results posted so far in the single-handed class. With 15 months to go the Olympic regatta itself the ISA have extended the deadline until after the Laser European championships to see if Ballyholme's James Espey or Dún Laoghaire's Roger Craig can finish in the top 16 nations.

In less than a month's time 75 per cent of the nation places at the 2008 Olympic Games come up for grabs at the ISAF World Championship (June 28th­July 13th) which take place in Cascais, Portugal. Ireland could be represented in up to six classes but only a top result in Cascais, at what is typically a very windy venue, will confirm this.

The Volvo Dún Laoghaire Week fleet has reached 435 boats to date and it's the newest class on the bay boasting the biggest numbers. The SB3 sportsboat has attracted 45 entries for its class start in the biennial regatta that runs from July 12th­15th. The next biggest single fleet of the 20 racing classes in action is the Fireball dinghy with 30 boats.

The 2007 Pre-Olympic squad is:

Debbie Hanna: Laser Radial class

Russell and Matt McGovern: 49er class

Gerbil Owens and Phil Lawton: 470 class

Tim Goodbody: Finn class

Maurice O'Connell and Ben Cooke: Star class