Volvo Ocean Race Diary:  Week 32 Leg 7: Boston to Galway: THE GREEN Dragon is coming home. We've raced over 35,000 miles so far on our round-the-world voyage and at last we're on course for Galway.

We knew this transatlantic leg could prove to be the most challenging and interesting yet, and we’ve already had our fair share of drama.

We had a great send-off in Boston, not least from the many Irish who travelled out to the stopover. A group of Irish dancers and musicians entertained us on the dock to the sound of Galway Girl, and we were waved off by the mayor of Galway.

The start went pretty well for us, getting off the line in a good position, and we left Boston mid-fleet. We said goodbye to the crowds at Fan Pier in bright sunshine – but just a short distance out we were suddenly engulfed in dense fog. Visibility was down to just a few boat-lengths. We could see Ericsson 3 and Delta Lloyd, as they were just metres away.

We finally settled into a long starboard tack during the evening in the freezing fog, and the breeze slowly lifted as we left the harbour to round the whale exclusion zone and make our way to the ice gate – put in place to keep us out of the way of icebergs.

As night fell the fog lifted to reveal the positions of our opposition. The fleet had remained tightly bunched and we could see stern lights and navigation lights all around us. We had to wait for the three-hourly schedule to work out who was who.

We had Delta Lloyd still beside us and the others were between two and four miles ahead, spread across our bow.

As the night progressed we settled into our watches, which were interrupted with regular sail changes as the wind increased and lifted.

To leave the comfort of your hotel room one night to sail a Volvo 70 yacht the next could not be more of a contrast – changing sails buried in ice-cold water, your hands freezing, crawling into your bunk still dressed in your wet foul-weather gear for what seems like cat naps, blasting through the ocean towards the notorious Cape Sable Island. But we were all on a high – excited to be bringing the boat back to Ireland.

By morning we were within four to seven miles of all the opposition, with Delta Lloyd right beside us. Mid-morning, as we were negotiating our way between the south side of Cape Island and reefs to the south, we found ourselves in a minefield of lobster pots. Over the course of the next three to four hours we were manoeuvring between the pots travelling at speeds of 16 to 18 knots, close enough to read the names of the owners at times.

Disaster struck when we sailed past one which hadn’t had its line properly weighted down. Within seconds it had severed our port daggerboard and jammed itself there. The guys quickly swung into action with knives and boat hooks trying to grab the lines and cut the pots free of our rudders, keel and both daggerboards as we dropped our headsail and came to a standstill.

Unfortunately the port daggerboard was unusable, so we had to remove it and replace it with the upturned starboard board – which is quite a feat when you’re trying to do this at sea. We worked constantly down below for hours to get it fixed. It’s not perfect, but it should get us to Galway.

That one encounter with the lobster pot cost us about 15 miles to our opposition.

This setback hasn’t just affected our decision-makers on board. There’s a new dimension for us on this leg, as instead of having just one navigator, we’ve now got around 200,000! It’s part of a new sponsorship deal we have which allows armchair sailors to get key information from the Dragon regarding our positioning and weather forecasts via the race website and then they can vote on which route they think we should take.

Of course, it’ll be up to our skipper, Ian Walker, and our real navigator, Ian Moore, if they decide to go with the popular option, but it’s about as close as virtual sailing gets to the real thing without getting wet!

I cannot tell you how much we want to do well on this leg, as we sail the Green Dragon 2,500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean back to Ireland.

We’ve had so much support back at home and we’re looking forward to sailing into Galway Bay and catching up with all those who’ve followed the race, as well as our family and friends.

It’s not just about us on the boat – so many people have worked so hard behind the scenes putting this whole project together.

We’ve had a bit of bad luck so far, but you can be sure we’re doing all we can out here to battle our way back.

* TG4 has confirmed that it will be broadcasting the Volvo Ocean Race live from Galway on Saturday, May 30th with coverage of the in-port races which will be held in Galway Bay that afternoon.

The live coverage will begin at 11.55am and will include news, interviews and all the action from Salthill with the two in-port races scheduled to start at 1pm.

The coverage will also be broadcast worldwide on www.tg4.tv.

“To leave the comfort of your hotel room one night to sail a Volvo 70 yacht the next could not be more of a contrast – changing sails buried in ice-cold water, your hands freezing. But we were all on a high – excited to be bringing the boat back to Ireland.