Green Dragon proves more than a match for the big players

OCEAN RACE REPORT:IN A curious twist of fate, Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker lifted the trophy for third place in Leg One of the Volvo Ocean race in Cape Town yesterday morning, thereby fulfilling his pre-race aim of achieving a podium result yet despite finishing fourth on the water.

It has been a baptism of fire for the British double-Olympic medallist who is better known as an inshore sailor and who just tripled his pre-race ocean sailing experience in the 6,500-mile leg from Alicante to Cape Town.

That baptism saw the Irish-Chinese backed entry depart Alicante just over three weeks ago with the seven other boats in the fleet, against the odds and the predictions of old-style begrudgery. Within a week, the 70-footer and its 11-man crew had taken the lead in the race and was competing with some of the biggest stars of the sport.

Winning the race to the scoring-gate off Brazil at the halfway point finally despatched any lingering doubts about their capabilities though realism has always recognised that the big players in this race retain more than one advantage.

One such edge became clear last week when the fleet hitched a lift on a fast moving weather front heading from South America to Africa.

With the longest lead time, apparently bottomless pockets and no fewer than three boats in their programme, Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 picked up its skirts and took off.

It was a fact acknowledged by Walker ashore yesterday. "Every time we looked at the three-hour skeds (position updates) they had made 75 miles and kept on adding," said Walker, referring to Grael's record-breaking run of 602 miles in a single 24-hour period.

"It has been a pretty hard week," he admitted.

"It was tough, especially after our collision. We had to work harder just to keep up with Ericsson 3."

Grael's stable-mate beat the Green Dragon into Cape Town but their illegal keel cost them the place and the trophy that reverted to Walker as the next finisher.

Although not gaining a performance advantage, a new compliant fin will be fitted this week and so Anders Lewander's team will not incur such a hefty price again in the race.

The crew of the Galway boat were nonplussed about being beaten into port for the final podium place.

The damage to the keel cost them about 10 per cent of boatspeed reckoned Walker - about two knots - so he is very confident of dealing with Ericsson 3 later on in the race.

"We can still do a better job than what we've done," said Walker. While teams such as Ericsson 4 and Ken Read's Puma Racing, who hold first and second overall, have had longer lead-times, Green Dragon is still mid-way along the learning curve with greater potential.

But Read isn't for resting on his laurels either. "The minute you get relaxed and complacent is the minute you get your butt kicked," the American skipper observed.

Still, for a team that only began building its boat a year ago and has still to source the remainder of its funds to complete a competitive campaign, Walker and his crew are pleased with holding third overall after leg one.

The only snag, according to the Green Dragon leader, is what to expect next?