Road trip to Galway for the Volvo Ocean Race

Following the successful stop over in Galway in 2009 ( see my 2009 posts here and there ) , the 2011-2012 edition of the Volvo Ocean race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) was scheduled to finish in Galway, with a last leg starting from Lorient, France.

A magnific leg 9, i have to say, stretching along the coastline of Ireland, taking the inside of the Fastnet and the outside of the Aran-Island.

Leg 9 (and final) of the Volvo Ocean Race

I had decided to go over to see the boats  arriving in the docks, so Monday i had an eye on the online GPS tracker, and estimated arrival time of the 550nm leg.
Initially scheduled to arrive tuesday morning, the boat did an excellent progress, and the estimated time went down from 3AM, 2AM to midnight.

So around 9pm I left limerick for an impromptu road trip, and I manage to "press ganged" a sailor for this adventure. We arrived a bit after 10PM in all lited Galway

Wheel

Wheel

The boat arrived in the complete darkness, crossing the line a bit before 1AM, then move slowly into the docks ( which could not be opened till 2AM due to the tides ).

Off course a myriad of lighted boat went to welcome them... ahead...

Camper entering the docks

Within 30 minutes of docking - well probably a lot more - the leg winner (Camper ) was hushed on to the main stage, in front of drunken Irish and dancing raving teenagers ;) 

Leg Winner : Camper

After that it was time to celebrate the overall race winner Groupama, who only arrived second , 7 minutes after the leg winner.

Overall Winner : french Groupama

We also had a look at those magnificent boats:

Volvo 70

Volvo 70 Mast

We waited the arrival of the last 2 boats, and soon it was 5AM ... time for a bit of sleep before driving back to Limerick/Shannon.

And to finish the highlights of Franck Cammas crew victory:

The boats are still in Galway till Saturday 7th of June , where they will race one last time in a in-port regatta.