ROYAL St. GEORGE YACHT CLUB, DUN LAOGHAIRE, IRELAND3

In 1973 the first Whitbread round the world race began. There have been many stories, tragedies and achievements in this momentous event. Many of which have never been spoken of.  The Whitbread race still lives on today now known as the Volvo ocean race.

My cousin Robbie English and I traveled out to Alicante to the start of the Volvo ocean race 2011/12 to learn more about the race, what is involved in putting a huge campaign together and to support the Chinese – Irish entry Team Sanya.
We were lucky enough to be invited out on many Irish boats while in Alicante and to see such a huge involvement by Irish people in this race. The Irish presence was clear with Justin Slattery bowman aboard Abu Dhabi, Dave Hassett Commercial Director for the Abu Dhabi team and of course the Discover Ireland and Lets do it Global teams who campaigned successfully to have the finish and final in port race of the Volvo Ocean Race staged in Galway.

This year an idea was formed to hear many of the old stories from Legends of the Round the World race, to re-live the memories and for us young sailors, to appreciate and understand the hardships of racing back then. This is known as the Volvo Ocean race legends regatta. It basically involved bringing Legends from years back, such as Irelands very own NCB Ireland, Which was the first Irish entry in the Whitbread round the world race in 1989 skippered by my Uncle, Joe English. I put a question to a panel of legends sailors at a press conference one day who competed in many round the world races. I asked, “If you had the opportunity to do the race again would you?” Of course they all said yes. They all agreed on racing one leg but anything more than that at their age would be madness.

It was great to see all the old boats, all different shapes and sizes from all different years and designs. For me it was great to see Green Dragon (Irelands last entry in the Volvo Ocean Race) at the event. The boat, only one season old was in pride position on the dockside in Alicante flying the Irish flag proudly. For me it was inspiring to see how involved Ireland is in this huge international race. Never underestimate an Irelands sailing tradition!
The Volvo Ocean race is one of the biggest international races followed all over the globe by sailors, enthusiasts or even just adrenalin junkies. It truly is the Formula 1 racing of sailing. The door is now wide open for Irish sailors to start racing yachts. More and more boats are looking for crew and the more experience us sailors have the better the chance we can get.

In the past few days we have heard some bad news in relation to “Sanya” the Chinese – Irish entry in the Volvo Ocean Race. I can only wish them the best in repairing their boat. After meeting Mike Sanderson “Moose” and asking him a few questions I believe they will try everything to get that boat back sailing. The team Sanya boat is actually a season old already.

In these tough economic times it is cheaper to buy a boat rather than build another one. Just looking at the budgets for the race today around 22 Million Euros compared to the start of this race for 13,500 Pounds.
I really respect Mike and his crew as they are paving the way for more of these types of entries. It was a shame to hear that most of the old Volvo 60s and 70s are no longer in the water or in use. In fact the only 8 Volvo 70 still in the water today was in Alicante. It is a shame to hear little can be done with these boats once they have completed a Volvo Ocean Race.

Lastly I would like to wish Mike, his crew aboard Sanya and Abu Dhabi who also have Irish involvement aboard the best in their endeavors. Looking forward to hearing about Irelands next entry in the Volvo Ocean Race and hopefully we can get a few sailors from the Royal St. George Yacht Club aboard. I would also like to summarize by quoting what Mike Sanderson said when he skippered ABN AMRO 1 to win in 2005-2006. “This is my olympic gold my mount everest my childhood dream"

Photo and Report by Denis English