Galway stopover, puma sailing

It is already some days that we (Constantijn) and myself are in Galway. We are sailing the Puma Bladeriders here till the start of leg 8 Galway to Marstrand.

We drove down to Galway from the Netherlands. On the ferry from holyhead (UK) to Dublin we got a comedy of errors show from the captain and his crew. We first got the message that we could not leave on time as the engine needed some maintenance. After appr 45 minutes we got the message that the engine was ready however we could not leave as there was something with a winch and that they couldn't untie the mooring rope. After again appr 45 minutes came the message that they managed to untie the aft mooring rope, however the rope was now caught-up in of the ship screws. So we had to wait till divers could get this sorted out......... It took another appr 45 minutes before we left...

We managed to get in Galway although a few hours later than planned on thursday late afternoon. Galway really embraced the Volvo completely very impressive to see people so proud about their Green Dragon.

When we arrived by the boats we met Michael from Bladerider UK. He was over for the weekend and already started with assembling the boats. However the boats needed also some maintenance as they were used for sailing with school kids in Boston. The kids apparently liked it very much, the boats a little bit less... Luckily almost all the necessary parts where available for the repairs and the Puma shore crew helped us out perfectly with tools and repairs.

On friday afternoon after we could get sailing with a good breeze. We sailed around the starting area of the practice race. It is impressive to seen how the Volvo guys manoeuvre their boats like dinghies on the startline. On saturday during the in-port race there was far less wind. And only occasionally we could get foiling. When we were foiling we got cheers and applaus from the spectator 'Armada'. Never experienced anything like that....

After Saturday the wind became lighter and lighter and the temperature higher and higher. It is here more like cote d' azur. Something extraordinary as normal irish weather would be rain and 12-15 degrees. Apparently the Irish are not used to this heat as I never have seen so many people with sun burns.

Today the wind was almost non-existent. Hopefully we get some more wind in the rest of the week and get some foiling in....