Volvo Ocean Race 2012

biko

And for the ladies, Prince Harry won't show but now it looks like this guy will.

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden

Rob A. Bank

Pen Rua wrote: »

The bridge looks horrible! It's like they brought in a load a different sections and hoped it would fit together. It looks awful, to be honest. There were two gaps in the bridge, too.

It certainly will not win any architectural awards !

They seem to be welding in sections to get the gaps up to the same level as the walkway on the bridge tonight.

dloob

shortys94 wrote: »

Is there anyone who received an invite to the Volvo pavilion Sunday who has RSVP'd, I'm going and am just wondering what time it starts and what to expect

Went to the unveiling of the s60 in the newly opened Aviva at the time and there was free wine and food along with a tour of the stadium, also met some of the rugby players on the national side

Anyone know what to expect at the pavilion Sunday?

I think it's going to be free wine and food and Hector :pac:
Registration begins at 12pm

Birroc

fishy fishy wrote: »

no these were king prawns - they were fab.

You sure? I thought they were king prawns too but turns out they were not real prawn, just shaped, coloured and spiced to taste like garlic/chilli prawns. They were still tasty.

yer man!

Pen Rua wrote: »

The bridge looks horrible! It's like they brought in a load a different sections and hoped it would fit together. It looks awful, to be honest. There were two gaps in the bridge, too. If anyone has seen it you'd get me. The first sections extends out to the edge of the platform. The next section extends out from the other side of the platform so there's a gap between the two sections...

It is still under construction you know.... they were joining the sections up this evening properly, one side looks nice and uniform, the other side is a bit mix and match but I don't really care as long as I don't have to walk near the wolfe tone I'm happy.

On a side note, the atmosphere in town is great, so many people about.

dinneenp

any photos from this evening?

jkforde

Pen Rua wrote: »

The bridge looks horrible! It's like they brought in a load a different sections and hoped it would fit together. It looks awful, to be honest. There were two gaps in the bridge, too. If anyone has seen it you'd get me. The first sections extends out to the edge of the platform. The next section extends out from the other side of the platform so there's a gap between the two sections...

would someone in town post a pic of this, say looking from nimmos side, I've heard anecdotally that it's an ugly rushed botch job (how after 3 years planning?!) and manages to ruin the nice river scene down by the arch.

... really looking forward to the boats coming in though, they're off in five hours , some dirty weather for their crossing by the forecast but they've weathered the Southern Ocean so suppose they can handle the Fastnet!

LadyMayBelle

If anyone has pics , I'd love to see them! Was home in Galway for the last one, living by the docks and it was an amazing weekend! Miss it this year!

Discodog

jkforde wrote: »

, they're off in five hours , some dirty weather for their crossing by the forecast but they've weathered the Southern Ocean so suppose they can handle the Fastnet!

That's for the in port race. The race to Galway starts at 1pm on Sunday or midday depending on whether the schedule is correct or the information on the tracker.

Mars Bar

Does anybody know where the Box Office is?

Rob A. Bank

Discodog wrote: »

That's for the in port race. The race to Galway starts at 1pm on Sunday or midday depending on whether the schedule is correct or the information on the tracker.

I believe the AIS transponders on board the boats are supposed to be turned on before the race starts. Also the tracker works on UTC. That may explain the difference in timings.

The race to Galway on Sunday is supposed to start at 13.02 local time in France.

(BTW TG4 coverage of the in port Lorient race on now)

ilovesleep

I wonder would there be any pilot rested with his helicopter in Galway offering helicopter spins around Galway city and the Bay for the VOR week?

It will be cool to get up into a helicopter and fly around for a couple of minutes.

Mrs OBumble

Mars Bar wrote: »

Does anybody know where the Box Office is?

There are signs saying "box office" in Steamship House (number 30 on the Galway Docks neighbourhood map)

Mars Bar

JustMary wrote: »

There are signs saying "box office" in Steamship House (number 30 on the Galway Docks neighbourhood map)

Thank you. You'd think they'd have it on the e-mail they sent out!

snubbleste

snubbleste on 21/06/12 wrote: »

I predict rain on the 30th, 1st and 2nd. My tea leaves would'nt disclose the 3rd, 4th or 5th.

My tea leaves were right :cool:

Discodog

Rob A. Bank wrote: »

I believe the AIS transponders on board the boats are supposed to be turned on before the race starts. Also the tracker works on UTC. That may explain the difference in timings.

The race to Galway on Sunday is supposed to start at 13.02 local time in France.

(BTW TG4 coverage of the in port Lorient race on now)

Last time the race tracker on the Volvo site was not being updated as quickly as on the AIS site - we nearly missed the winner especially in the middle of the night ! Groupama & Camper are the only boats showing on AIS.

TG4 appears to be showing tennis.

squonk

How did people get the Volvo invites for tomorrow? Have you to register somewhere or be a Volvo owner?

Rob A. Bank

Discodog wrote: »

Last time the race tracker on the Volvo site was not being updated as quickly as on the AIS site - we nearly missed the winner especially in the middle of the night ! Groupama & Camper are the only boats showing on AIS.

TG4 appears to be showing tennis.

The last few legs in this race had pretty accurate realtime tracking for all boats on the Volvo site. I believe they had a 'stealth mode' for the trackers during the last VOR... the boats could turn off the trackers for a period to confuse the opposition, but they don't have stealth in the present race.

TG4 were showing the Lorient in-port race live when I posted at 11:50 and it was nice to see the LE Aisling flying the flag in Lorient.

Groupama won the race... consolidating their lead overall with only a maximum 36 points up for grabs for the final leg and inport race in Galway.

Overall leader board after the Lorient In Port leg:
Points table:
1. Groupama (France) 225
2. Puma (USA) 200
3. Camper (NZ) 196
4. Telephonica (Spain) 194
5. Abu Dhabi 124
6. Sanya (China) 40

ilovesleep

Why on earth was a funfair put into the greenry of Eyre Square?

What pubs and restaurants if any are open late for food? Many places usually stop serving food at about 9 or 10 at the latest. The only places that Galway has to offer for late night eating is macdonalds and supermacs and that kind of fast food dirty muck.

Krieg

Im impressed with the amount of area is being used up for this, I booked one day off next week but now im thinking of booking the whole week off.
Only bad things are that ugly bridge, looks horrible up close and at the rate they are trying to weld it together i worry about how safe it will be. Also what ilovesleep said, I think eyre square would benefit without the rides and have more ornament type stuff around like the boat with flowers.
Still though, should be a good week

BeardySi

Quick question, are (free) tickets needed for the free gigs like Lizzy and The Stunning, or are they just open to all comers?

alwayswright

Treadhead wrote: »

Quick question, are (free) tickets needed for the free gigs like Lizzy and The Stunning, or are they just open to all comers?

They are indeed open to all. They only events in which tickets are needed are those situated in the Global Village.
Race Village events (down by the docks) are all free

scully74

Parachuting and skydive event, anyone know when this is happening?

vulcan57

First few from today

























The Trophy

jkforde

grubwise, just had some Argentinean grub down in Salthill at the roundabout, had Churrasco, a thin tender beef steak sandwich with chimichurri, but tad dear at 6 quid but willing to support them for their efforts. they don't have Choripán, the pork sausage Chorizo variety but here's hoping they'll have it sometime!

racewise, the in-shore in Lorient was exciting, great win by Groupama, we'd better better their party that they're having there tonight since their skipper is a local.

Discodog

A friend has just returned from Lorient & he was seriously underwhelmed. In his words it was nothing like Galway !

I wonder how many people will turn up if the boats get in at 3am given that it is a work day & may be wet ?

If the route is correct & they are going to pass to the North of Aran then we could have an interesting run in. The shortest route is close to the Galway shore but it is also shallow & rocky !

dastardly00

To get into the spirit of the VOR, myself and my gf attended a "taste of sailing" course run by the Galway Bay Sailing Club this afternoon in Lough Atalia.

It was class! I've never sailed before, I'm not even a water-sports type person so I was a total novice.

There were 7 adults and 2 kids altogether in the course this afternoon and we had 4 instructors. Everybody was given a wetsuit, life jacket, and a helmet if you wanted it. The course lasted about 2 1/2 hours. It was very much more than a taste of sailing!

There were two people to a boat. The instructor was in the boat teaching you how to sail for about 5 minutes. After the instructor jumped out, you were in complete control of the boat and you got to sail for well over an hour I got the hang of it after a few minutes and we didn't manage to capsize

Best of all, it was only €10!!
I think there are more of these type of courses on tomorrow and next weekend. More details can be found here.
I definitely recommend it

snubbleste

An interesting stall there
'Galway hookers in oils'

vulcan57

Discodog wrote: »

A friend has just returned from Lorient & he was seriously underwhelmed. In his words it was nothing like Galway !

Bit confused Do you mean by that that Lorient was better?

Discodog

vulcan57 wrote: »

Bit confused Do you mean by that that Lorient was better?

Of course not

He reckoned that Lorient was dead !. Oh and the weather was awful.