Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker (GBR) (pictured), finished third on leg 7 from Boston to Galway. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
Riath Al-Samarrai interviews Green Dragon's skipper, Ian Walker:
The best word I can use to describe the last few days since we got in is "fun".
People have been stopping me in the streets, saying "well done" and even asking for autographs, which still embarrasses me slightly. It has really brought home what our project was supposed to be about: bringing the Volvo Ocean Race to Ireland and attracting people to sailing.
To that end I can't help but feel it's been a big success. The stopover committee has done a fantastic job; you only have to walk around here to see just how involved the local community has become with the race. They love it. Even if you go into the race village week, when it has been pouring with rain, there are crowds of people.
That reception when we came in will stay with me for a long time. There have been some hard moments for Green Dragon on this race and to reach our home port in third, with that reaction, at that time of night, has been great.
Someone asked me "how does it compare getting on the podium here to winning an Olympic medal?" In some respects it is very similar because in both cases you put in a lot of hard work, make sacrifices and have some bad times along the way. When you stand up there getting recognition, be it an Olympic medal or 8,000 people at 0400 cheering for your team, then I guess it makes it all worthwhile.
It is a nice reward for everyone involved in the team. We have got a good team and people have been well looked after - it's not like people have been asked to chop their right arm off - but we have people like Justin Slattery, Neal McDonald, Damian Foxall and the rest who are all capable of being on the winning boat. But they chose to sail with our team for a number of reasons, be it patriotism from the Irish lads or other factors.
It has not been easy for them. We have not always been competitive because we were so late to the party and our financial situation means we have not been able to afford any new sails since China. In dealing with this the guys have been brilliant; they have all made personal sacrifices to get the boat around the world and they always give their best effort. I hope the guys feel vindicated by what we achieved in reaching Galway in third place because it was a result we all so desperately wanted.
In all, the race has been a big challenge. We set out hoping we might get on the podium, and in hindsight it is probably not that surprising that we haven't, given the time and money we had. But there is no real harm in having a dream. For us now the goal is to do as well as we can. It is important that we do not relax, but knowing the people on the boat I don't think that will happen. We want to hold off the boats behind us and, you never know, Ericsson 3 are not that far ahead of us. Anything could happen.
Whatever happens, this stopover has been great. I have taken a group of school kids around the boat this morning and you see just how many people have been touched by the race and our team. We haven't won the race but we have done something really important here and you don't get many chances to do that.
Volvo Ocean Race
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