Lets do it Galway chairman John Killeen said: We are proud to be hosting a global sporting event such as the Volvo Ocean Race which will be watched by a worldwide audience of over 1.8 billion.
"Lets do it Galway has been working with Fáilte Ireland and the local administrative and State agencies Galway City Council, Galway Harbour Company and Fáilte Ireland West to make the visit of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 the most successful sporting event in the history of the State.
Commenting today, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen TD said: "2009 will be a special year for Galway and the west of Ireland when we welcome the Volvo Ocean Race for its only stopover in Ireland and the UK.
"The Government has been behind this venture all the way and is backing up its strong support by making up to 8 million funding available through Fáilte Ireland to help secure an Irish stopover, which is expected to generate a 43 million economic impact in the region.
Event organisers, Let's Do It Ireland, are courting publicity for what is being billed as the largest sporting event in Ireland since the Ryder Cup. The city is bracing itself for 140,000 extra visitors (spending 43 million in the area) over the two weeks of the event, during which the eight 70-foot Volvo Ocean Race yachts will dock in the city centre.
The Boston-Galway leg is replete with deep historic ties, with thousands of Irish people emigrating to the new world from the western port in the 1800s. The ties are hoped to draw large numbers of American tourists and spectators to Ireland for the stopover and the finish of a Transatlantic leg known for high speeds and 24-hour records as the boats blast reach across the north Atlantic.
Indeed, a quick Ancestry.comsearch of passenger records shows that relatives of nearly all the known principles of Green Team would have made the journey - Killeens, Conneelys, Walkers and Boags all boarded boats bound for America out of Galway in the lean years either side of the famine. This time they'll be making the return journey at breakneck speeds - hungry only for victory.
The prospect of VOR 70s and Extreme 40s inshore racing in the waters off Ireland is sure to draw huge numbers of Irish sailing enthusiasts west to get a first-hand view of some of the world's most extreme racing craft, and perhaps pat the back of the first Irish round-the-world team since NCB Ireland in the 1989/90 Whitbread race.
Even though this correspondent was only nine years old when the Ron Holland-designed sloop sailed out of Dun Laoghaire, the spectacle of hundreds of boats in the send-off fleet is etched in memory. Anyone else who was there will be hoping for something similar as the Irish Volvo sailors make their way past the Aran Islands and into Galway Bay.
The major task now facing the organisers is to find hundreds of volunteers that will make the event a success. Let's Do It Ireland is looking for helpers and boat owners to assist with mark laying, on-the-water press accommodation and the provision of spectator vessels.
Galway will present street parades, visits by school and youth groups along with a constant presence of sail and pleasure craft on Galway Bay including the tall ships Jeanie Johnston and Tenacious.
Galway Bay and Docks will be transformed with the arrival of the Volvo Fleet. A raised viewing platform will be constructed on the quayside to allow visitors to witness these high-performance craft at close quarters.
The Race Village will also feature an open-air market and a tented extension of the Citys Latin Quarter.
The Volvo Ocean Race simulator will be also open to the public from today, giving the normal Joe a taste of ocean race conditions at the cutting edge of offshore sailing.
It leaves Galway to take up station in Dun Laoghaire on May 28, before heading to the Docklands Maritime Festival and on to spend three days in Cork's Emmet Place. (Details here.)
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