Half way point and making good progress!
Day 4: Ian Walker - Blog
Position: 59,33.32N , 19,3.81W
We have just gybed in 30 knots, about 180 miles south of Iceland which marks the half way point of our qualifier. The last 24 hours have been relatively news free which is nice to report.
It is raining, very grey and we still haven't seen any boats since day one. Right now we are enjoying great ride in a 25 - 30 knot north-easterly. In fact, for the last hour we have averaged over 22 knots of boat speed, with a top speed 30.3!
We have tried to seal up the abundance of leaks around the bunks, but it still leaves a bit to be desired. It is a brave man who takes off his oilskins to sleep right now.
Guo Chaun and Huang Jian have taken some excellent photos and video, but I think they are grateful they are not having to edit it onboard on this trip. We have destroyed one computer already with water ingress, so we will leave the others tucked away. It is clear that the onboard media role is going to be a tough one to fill.
With current progress we should be home on Wednesday, which would be two days ahead of schedule. If we stay incident free and maintain this wind, 450 plus mile days should be no problem. Fingers crossed that is what happens.
Have fun,
Ian
Day 3: Ian Walker – Blog
Position: 59,32.2N, 020.6W
It's 5 o'clock on Sunday morning and fairly grey, cold and damp as we turn our northernmost waypoint at 5932 .2N 020.6W - for those with keen geography that is approximately halfway between the Outer Hebrides and the Faroe Islands, northwest of mainland Scotland.
We have come east of our intended route to avoid some very heavy winds in the North Atlantic. We are now turning west to head directly for our next waypoint 200 miles south of Iceland.
We currently have 10 knots of wind and we are sailing at 11 knots under full main and mast head zero but we are expecting the breeze to build again. We are making good progress having sailed 700 miles in our first 40 hours.
It is turning out to be an excellent test for crew and boat. Despite pushing the boat hard we have suffered little breakage although we have some work to do on waterproofing the boat - pretty much every bunk is dripping wet and all sleeping bags are now unusable - it is hard for the lads to recover for their next watch when there is little respite down below. More work for the shore team but most importantly nothing serious for us.
This is a pretty lonely part of the world - we have seen only one fishing boat since rounding the Fastnet and I doubt too many others would be silly enough to be out here right now.
If the rest of the trip goes well we hope to be back in Cork by late Wednesday / early Thursday.
Ian
Day 1: Ian Walker - Blog
Last Friday was a hand picked date for the official Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games because the number eight has special meaning to the Chinese nation. It was also selected as an auspicious date for the start of the Green Dragon sailing team’s 2000-mile qualifier, because not only does the boat have a sail number of IRL 888, but the eighth day of the eighth month 2008 is especially lucky to the three Chinese crew members who are trialling this week.
One of the sailors being tested on the offshore passage is Guo Chuan, who had the honour of carrying the Olympic torch last week into the Olympic sailing venue of Qingdao. Flown in especially from Valencia was Jue Wang from the America’s Cup China Team. Also onboard The Green Dragon Volvo Open 70 is Huang Jian, one of China’s Leading sport’s documentary makers.
All three crew members will be pushed to their limits as the boat heads out into the North Atlantic, skipper Ian Walker explained. “For the third time in two weeks we will soon be rounding the Fastnet Rock and then we will head north in a fairly strong weather system that is fast approaching.
"Our aim is to circle the depression in an anticlockwise direction as it heads east towards Ireland. Hopefully we will round Rockall before heading north west further into the North Atlantic. With a bit of luck in five or six days we will ride the next system back to our training base in Cork.
“We are bracing ourselves for a sustained 30+ knots and the first real test of the boat in the open ocean. It is not without some trepidation that we head into this system as we can ill afford the time to our program that major damage could cost us, but as always, it is better to find these things out sooner than later. We also need the training in these conditions and it is too easy to put it off.
“Right now 2000 miles seems a long way, so quite how we will feel leaving Qingdao with 12,300 miles ahead of us to Rio is hard to fathom. Still – we’ll deal with that when we get there. So all is well at the moment onboard the Green Dragon but I suspect a baptism of fire lies ahead.
"Our thoughts are for the organisers and all those competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics – we have five different nationalities onboard so there is plenty of pride at stake here too.”
Walker, a double silver Olympic medallist, will be sending in blogs from the boat as they get to grips with offshore life.
Green Dragon Racing Team crew list 2000-mile qualification passage:
1) Ian Walker (GBR)
2) Justin Slattery (IRL)
3) Tom Braidwood (AUS)
4) Freddie Shanks (GBR)
5) Andrew Maclean (NZ)
6) Phil Harmer (AUS)
7) Scott Millar (IRL)
8) Guo Chuan (CHN)
9) Ian Moore (IRL)
10) Damian Foxall (IRL)
11) Neal McDonald (GBR)
12) Huang Jian (CHN)
13) Jue Wang (CHN)