#VOLVO OCEAN RACE – With the last leg now in the final hours before the grand finale of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway, Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton yesterday joined Tourism Ireland in the penultimate stopover port of Lorient at a reception for key French and international media contacts.

The event, which took place in the Volvo Ocean Race Village in Lorient, was an opportunity to showcase Galway and Ireland as a fantastic holiday destination – part of Tourism Ireland’s worldwide publicity drive during the race to reach a huge audience of potential holidaymakers.
 
The Volvo Ocean Race is the third largest sport event globally in 2012, attracting huge publicity around the world – with an estimated two billion people seeing it on TV, reading about it and tuning in to hear about it on the radio.

Since the race kicked off last November from Alicante in Spain, Tourism Ireland has been working in key markets where the race stopped to ensure Galway and Ireland were in the spotlight.
 
Billy Condon, Tourism Ireland’s manager for southern Europe, said: "The Volvo Ocean Race attracts huge publicity around the world and with Galway set to host the grand finale this week, the stopover here in Lorient was an ideal opportunity to showcase Galway and the west to the international media in attendance, drawing positive attention and publicity for the destination.

"The event is a great ‘hook’ for Tourism Ireland to reach a huge audience of potential French and other international holidaymakers.”
 
The 2009 stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway brought 40,500 international visitors to the city, as well as 269 journalists from around the world. 

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - TG4 will broadcast tonight’s Volvo Ocean Race arrivals from Galway live at TG4.tv.

The boats are expected to arrive in Galway sometime between 2am and 4am tomorrow morning, and live commentary will be provided online by Martin Tasker and Peter Lester as the fleet approaches the finish line.

TG4's coverage begins this evening at 7.30pm with highlights from the start of Leg 9, following the fleet along the 485 natutical miles from Lorient to Galway through the treacherous waters of the Celtic Sea.

The channel will also present live coverage of the in-port race from Galway this Saturday 7 July from 12.45pm.

After nine months, nine legs and 39,000 nautical miles, it all comes down to this one race, the final scoring opportunity for teams in the 2011-2012 edition of the race which could well decide the overall podium positions. 

The fleet will sail for an intense hour around a course positioned close to land to both challenge the crew and delight those lining the shore along Salthill and Barna. 

Later this month, on Sunday 29 July at 2pm, TG4 will broadcast the official film for this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. 

The documentary will take a look back at the 2011/2012 race as the boats left Alicante last October, sailing around the world and visiting ports and cities such as Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, Lorient and Galway. 

Delving into the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world, the film will get close to the action in the ultimate mix of world class sporting competition and on-the-edge adventure, a unique blend of onshore glamour with offshore drama and endurance. 

Follow TG4's live coverage of the event HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Team Telefónica currently leads the Volvo Ocean Race fleet on the final leg with just a day's sailing left to go to the finish line in Galway.

As of 9.15am this morning, the Spanish team were closing in fast on Fastnet Rock, just 40 nautical miles ahead.

Hot on their heels is the CAMPER team, followed by a racey PUMA and Groupama, whose watch captain Damian Foxall is on course for his first ever Volvo Ocean Race win on home waters.

At the back of the pack, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - featuring Wexford sailor Justin Slattery on deck – are in fifth place ahead of the Discover Ireland-backed entry Team Sanya, skippered by Ian Walker - who shared his strategy to make up for lost time.

“We’ll go thorough a second trough that will head the wind, so we’ll end up on the wind on much tighter angles near Fastnet Rock and a little more on the wind to get round the corner of Ireland, then the wind should come aft again to get us into Galway,” he said.

The first of the fleet is set to cross the finish line in Galway to meet the sunrise at 4am tomorrow morning, according to VOR headquarters in Alicante, Spain.

Follow rolling updates on the race fleet at the official Volvo Ocean Race website HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Dave Vinell spoke to the Galway Independent recently about his longtime love of the sea ahead of the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race finale in Galway.

The Commodore of the Galway Bay Sailing Club, who grew up in Essex, tells how he began in kayaking but soon moved in to sailing a one-man Laser dinghy.

“Since that, I am on my tenth boat, the same type as the one I started sailing 45 years ago," he says. "I can’t seem to get away from it!”

Even today he still races his Laser, juggling his competitions with his duties as Commodore - and his responsibilities overseeing the on-water activities for the Volvo Ocean Race finale in Galway Bay.

Aside from looking after the main racing events, the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) regional race officer and national judge will also be helping to get 10,000 youngsters on the water during the week's festivities.

The Galway Independent has more on the story HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - The final leg of the latest Volvo Ocran Race from Lorient to Galway is starting now - and you can watch the live stream of the action HERE.

Yesterday's Bretagne In-Port Race saw French team Groupama - which features Ireland's Damian Foxall on deck - clinch a dream home win, edging them closer to overall victory.

But as the Kerryman said just a few days ago, that victory is by no means assured, with 500 miles of turbulent Celtic Sea lying between the fleet and the finish line.

#vor – Tradtional boating got a boost at the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway last night at a special ceremony in Galway Harbour when the country's newest community built Galway hooker was named in a ceremony attended by Social Protection Minister, Joan Burton TD. The boat has been named 'Croí an Cladaig'.

The 32–foot boat is the first of its class to be built in Galway since 1922. In keeping with the Claddagh's centuries old traditions it will be launched on Sunday afternoon, after it is blessed in a ceremony conducted by Dominican Fathers.

The new hooker took 18 months to design and build as part of a training scheme organised by the Claddagh based boatmen's association, "Badoiri an Cladaig", FAS, Galway City & County Enterprise Board and several other local community groups.

Chairperson of "Badoiri an Cladaig", Michael Coyne, said the building of the new hooker has created huge excitement in the Claddagh and has given new impetus to efforts to revive the ancient craft of  traditional boat building in Galway.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Local businesses in Galway have committed to Fáilte Ireland's Quality, Value and Service charter for the Volvo Ocean Race festival that kicks off this weekend.

According to the Galway Advertiser, shops, eateries and accommodation throughout Galway have agreed to maintain high standards of quality and be transparent in their pricing to guarantee an enjoyable experience for the thousands of visitors who will be thronging the city over the next few days.

Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar said the so-called 'Galway Guarantee' is "a great initiative to ensure that anyone visiting [the VOR] has a great time, and hopefully decides to return.”

The charter is a cornerstone of the ‘Your Volvo - Your Opportunity’ initiative designed to ensure that the City of the Tribes makes the most of the eight-day festival of sailing, culture, arts and food.

The Galway Advertiser has more on the story HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Damian Foxall hopes it will be fourth time lucky in his quest to clinch a Volvo Ocean Race victory - but as he tells the official VOR website, he won't be resting on his laurels.

Despite the overall 23-point advantage held by his team Groupama - following a dramatic comeback victory in the most recent leg of the race - Foxall says victory is not yet assured in a field that has been growing increasingly competitive in recent weeks.

"Now we have to keep pushing," says the 42-year-old Kerryman. "“We have a very fast boat if not the fastest boat in the fleet, and we've learned how to sail it very well. There is no reason we can't win this race. We've believed that from the start and now everyone else believes it."

But the watch captain and his crew are acutely aware that it can all be lost in the blink of an eye.

"A technical hitch or a couple of poor starts like we have had recently from Lisbon and it all goes down the drain," he says. "We can't let that happen.”

This Sunday the fleet departs on the final leg of the race, a 550-mile sprint from Lorient in France to Galway through the often turbulent Celtic Sea that has the potential to scupper even the best prepared team's plans.

The official Volvo Ocean Race website has more on the story HERE.

#rockall – The three boats competing in the first ever Round Rockall race from Galway are due back in the West coast port sometime tomorrow after an epic 750 mile race. All three yachts - two Irish and one German- rounded Rockall around midnight on Tuesday.

The German yacht "Bank Von Bremen" first made a 1,000 mile trip from its homeport of Bremerhaven to come to Galway for the race around Rockall. It has a crew of nine and is skippered by Rainer Persch.

The two Irish boats are being raced by veteran single-handed sailors Jamie Young, from Killary in Connemara and Barry Hurley from Cobh in Cork.

Barry Hurley is sailing his JOD 35 "Dinah" the boat in which he won his class in the 2009 OSTAR the singlehanded 3,000 mile transatlantic race from Plymouth in England to Newport Rhode Island in the US. He completed the crossing in what race organisers described as "a flawless 21 day run"

Jamie Young has taken to the seas in his classic Admiral's Cup 50 foot Frerer's designed "Killary Flyers". He competed in the 1976 OSTAR Race and he and his wife Mary spent their honeymoon completing a two handed transatlantic crossing.  He now runs the Killary Adventure Centre in Connemara.

Race organiser Larry Hynes said "The idea of a non stop race around Rockall came about because of the enormous buzz created in Galway by the 2009 Volvo Ocean Race stopover. We thought we would like to do something spectacular to coincide with the 2012 Volvo Ocean Race finale and we ended up sending three boats racing around Rockall"

"The crews of the three boats are certainly taking the hard route to the party but they will certainly be given a great welcome home when they arrive back in the city tomorrow"

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Miriam Lord's "sniping" on the Volvo Ocean Race and Global Village festivities in Galway was "unfair, unwarranted and misunderstood", according to the chair of the event organisers.

In a letter to the editor of The Irish Times, Enda O'Coineen (currently racing Green Dragon in the Round Ireland race) of Let's Do It Global took to task the political writer and satirist's article in last Saturday's edition of the paper, in which she opined about the VIP nature of some of the week's corporate hospitality events.

"'Sniping' at a critical time like this damages the work of a small core of professionals and almost 2,000 volunteers making it happen in the heart of Galway," wrote O'Coineen.

"Much of the hospitality is for international corporate visitors who bring business. Our ambition is, once again, to deliver a massive return on investment for our North Atlantic island residents and diaspora."

The VOR Galway head invited the Irish Times writer to "come to Galway and share the vibrance, the energy, the fun and adventure" of the week from 30 June to 8 July.

Lord herself has yet to respond to O'Coineen's comments, but we'd expect something just as wry as her columns.