GREEN TEAM YACHT MAIDEN VOYAGE

GALWAY, IRELAND (Advertiser)

The Green Team and Ireland’s new Volvo Open 70 are already making waves in preparation for their assault on the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race.
This week the yacht was taken for its maiden voyage - ahead of schedule - having been lifted into the water on Monday.

The Green Team, currently in Gosport, England, will be based in Galway before the race starts in Spain on October 4.

The Green Team, including 15 shore crew, boat builders, and the race crew have been working for the last 10 days to prepare the Reichel Pugh-designed boat for its first sail since arriving from the boat builders yard,McConaghy Boats, in China.

Skipper Ian Walker is delighted the Green Team is on course in its preparations before moving to Galway in July.

“We sailed for five hours in perfect conditions. Starting in no wind, we slowly loaded the boat up and quickly got sailing with full cant on the keel in 15 knots of wind. As always with new boats there were some glitches and we already have some modifications to make but it was overwhelmingly positive.

“The boat feels beautifully balanced, the keel system is working well, and the mast and sails set up nicely,” he said.

A number of key components have been flown in from around the world - the mast was made by Southern Spars New Zealand, the sails from North Sails, Britain; rudders and dagger boards from McConaghy Australia; keel bulb from Irons Brothers in Britain, and the keel fin from the USA.
Like the boat’s components, the crew is also boasts a strong international flavour.

Joining skipper Ian Walker, will be four Irish sailors, two Australians, a New Zealander, and a British sailor. This line-up of round-the-world winners, America’s Cup campaigners, and world-class competitors reflects the international flavour of all seven participants in this year’s round the world race.

Three of Ireland’s world-class sailors have jumped on board in the continuing build-up to this year’s race, which includes for the first time a stopover in Galway.

All on the international sailing circuit, Damian Foxhall (39) from County Kerry, Justin Slattery (34) from County Wexford, and Ian Moore (37) from County Antrim, will join a fourth Irish sailor, youngster Scott Miller (25), for the world’s most prestigious offshore ocean race. Another three Irish sailors have been selected on the shore team.

Damien Foxhall, selected as a watch leader on the Green Team, already has two Volvo races under his belt, having sailed in 2005/06 on Ericsson and previously on Team Tyco. Having crossed the Atlantic 17 times and sailed rounded the world seven times, he has clocked up more than 310,000 nautical miles. In a career spanning 25 years, he has become a familiar face on the international racing circuit having competed in every discipline at most levels. A native of Derrynane, he is the most recent winner of a round the world yacht race, having won the inaugural Barcelona World Race with Jean-Pierre Dick aboard the Open 60 Paprec-Virbac this year. In doing so he made Irish sailing history, becoming the first Irish man to win a non-stop round the world race.

Ian Moore is selected as the team’s navigator. Brought up in Northern Ireland, and with keen sailing parents behind him, he first sailed at the local sailing club in Newcastle, Co Down, where he learnt the ropes on Mirror dinghies. Initially he trained as a naval architect in England, and having worked on a number of diverse projects, including designing and building nuclear submarines, he became a professional yacht racing navigator. His big break as a navigator came after racing as a bowman in the Commodores Cup in 1996. He cut his teeth in the Volvo event on board the winning Volvo Ocean Race 2001/02 Illbruck before spending three years with New Zealand’s America’s Cup team as Ben Ainslie’s navigator on the B boat. Named as navigator for the British America’s Cup challenge, Team Origin, he has sailed with Walker and Green Team chairman Eamon Conneely on the Galwayman’s TP52 Patches.

Bowman Justin Slattery hails from Cork, and he too made Irish sailing history when the became the first Irishman to win the gruelling Volvo Ocean Race when on board ABN Amro One in the 2005/06 event - the third time he had sailed around the world in five years.

From Wexford, and a former member of the Wexford Harbour Boat Club, he broke the round the world record in 2004 on board the yacht Cheyenne whose crew became the fastest to sail the globe in 58 days.

Other sailing achievements include breaking the transatlantic record at just 22 years old, shortly after winning the maxi-worlds onboard Skandia.
Slattery boasts an impressive CV, having competed in all the prestigious ocean races in the world, including five Fastnets and five Sydney-Hobarts, including the notorious 1998 race in which six sailors tragically died. He has taken part in multiple other races during his professional racing career. His first venture around the world was on board News Corp in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001/02 when he was 26 years old, having already claimed the trans-atlantic record on Nicorette.

The youngster on the Green Team is Scott Miller (25) who will be a trimmer. He has worked on the design side of UK Sails and has skippered the Farr 45 John Merricks. Miller is a graduate of the Volvo RYA Keelboat squad and has raced numerous boats from Beneteau 25s all the way up to Maximus.

The remainder of the crew are:

Tom Braidwood - a highly respected and experienced sailor from Sydney, Australia, who was also also on board Team Ericsson for the last race. His third Volvo Round the World race, Braidwood has also campaigned with two Admiral Cup teams and has competed in several Farr 40 European and World Championships. He has project managed the Green Team’s entry in conjunction with McConaghys Boats Ltd.

Andrew McLean (29) - a graduate of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth programme and was a shore team member of Team New Zealand. A professional engineer, McLean worked with the weather team for the 2003 defence, developing software and predictive models on the weather data gathered from the racecourse. In 2004 he joined the Team New Zealand sailing team as a grinder.

Phil Harmer (28) - The Australian is the Green Team’s multi-tasker -driver/trimmer/sailmaker. He competed in the last Volvo Ocean Race on board ABN AMRO TWO and Brunel as sailmaker and trimmer. He has recently trimmed for the RC44 Team Aqua and the Farr 40 Grooverderci, but cut his teeth with the 1995 Young Australia America’s Cup team.

Freddie Shanks (28) - Another regular crewmember on Conneely’s TP52 Patches, this British sailor will be the bowman on the Green Team. Shanks has also won the Swan Worlds on J One and the Commodores Cup on the Farr 52 Bear of Britain. He has sailed with Ian Walker on numerous other boats including several Farr 40s and has recently twice completed the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race.

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