Well, if there is one place in the country that knows how to throw a party, it is Galway. They held the biggest festival of the year from 23rd May to 6th June, attracting over 650,000 visitors over the two-week period.

The highlight of the festival was the stop-over of boats in the Volvo Ocean Race. I managed to make it down for the last two days and got to see Aslan play live at the bay. The weather was exceptional and made the festival one to remember.

The ‘Green Dragon’ came home to a hero’s welcome in Galway after securing a third place on Leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race. It had been an epic transatlantic leg with gusts of over 40 knots, breakages, adverse weather and some of the best sailing that the fleet had experienced up till that point in the race as they made their final approach into Galway Bay.

The idea for a stopover in Galway had been planned three years in advance, but finishing in a podium place on their home leg made it all the sweeter for the crew.

The building of the boat was funded privately by a syndicate of Irish business people, and the principal sponsors are a consortium of Chinese companies. The hull was built in China to an American design, the mast was made by Southern Spars New Zealand, the sails came from North Sails UK, rudders and dagger boards from McConaghy Australia, keel bulb from Irons Brothers UK and the keel fin was built in the USA.

The sails are light and easy to handle but also strong enough to maintain their shape. They were built for durability to survive in the harsh and variable conditions they would be subject to. For the sake of longevity, Kevlar fibres have been used instead of carbon together with a Mylar film on each side of the sail.

The ‘Green Dragon’ is crewed by an eclectic mix of nationalities with members from Ireland, China, The UK, Australia and New Zealand.

The offshore round-the-world sailing race tells an inspiring story about dedicated individuals and teams who go about a daunting task with passion, energy and endurance as they climb the ‘Mount Everest of sailing’.

The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the very few truly global sports events– taking place on four different continents, involving multi-national, multi-cultural teams and support teams.

On Sunday 12 July 2009 Dun Laoghaire’s west pier welcomed the ‘Dragon’ home, having completed a voyage of 37,000 nautical miles around the world over the last nine months. She was only one of four boats in the race to complete all legs and had visited ports including Alicante, Capetown, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Maarstrand, and Stockholm, finishing in St Petersburg at the end of June.

One of the partner sponsors, Discover Ireland, said the boat had raised the profile of Ireland as a tourist and maritime destination, not least in China, a new and potentially huge source of tourism. The stopover in Galway was acknowledged by all involved as one of the highlights of the 2008-09 Race.

Congratulations to everyone involved with the ‘Green Dragon’ Team and best of luck in the future.

Picture: The ‘Green Dragon’.