Volvo Ocean Race - Events

What exactly are the events that are happening around Galway during the Volvo Ocean Race? I know the Red Arrows are coming, but not sure of anything else.

biko

Some info here www.letsdoitgalway.com/events.php

Storm 10

With the Red Arrows coming thats all I want however there could be more check out their website tonight looks good

http://www.salthillairshow.com/

helios12

unless you are one of the boats racing this looks pretty lame tbh, also is this the reason those ridiculous lights were put up all over Merchant's Road!?! :mad:

JohnCleary

helios12 wrote: »

unless you are one of the boats racing this looks pretty lame tbh, also is this the reason those ridiculous lights were put up all over Merchant's Road!?! :mad:

Tell ya what buddy, if your so disgusted, best to just avoid the whole docks area between May 23rd - June 6th, mkay?

FFS lads we're in a recession :pac:, be greatful for what ye get (for free)

helios12

JohnCleary wrote: »

Tell ya what buddy, if your so disgusted, best to just avoid the whole docks area between May 23rd - June 6th, mkay?

FFS lads we're in a recession :pac:, be greatful for what ye get (for free)

I'm not your buddy, pal

Zzippy

helios12 wrote: »

I'm not your buddy, pal

Lucky escape John! :rolleyes:

helios12

Wow, smell the cronyism?

I am well entitled to my personal opinion and as a resident of the docks area, those lights have an impact! So off you go and be grateful Mr. Cleary and sidekick but keep your attitude to yourself ..mkay?

Chris_533976

Last weeks advertiser had quite a good list of whats on.

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/digitaleditions.aspx?tab=0&pid=a2fc81f2-0ccf-4dbf-aca1-00bedf4bde35#

Launch edition, P31.

Fracture

helios12 wrote: »

Wow, smell the cronyism?

I am well entitled to my personal opinion and as a resident of the docks area, those lights have an impact! So off you go and be grateful Mr. Cleary and sidekick but keep your attitude to yourself ..mkay?

hmmmmmm, seems like you cant keep your own attitude to yourself never mind worrying about others.
Tbh, the ocean race is gonna pump galway full of great and well needed business, i think a set off traffic lights is the last thing on anyones mind. If you have nothing better to do than complain and get annoyed by a set of traffic lights then you have one carefree life tbh.

helios12

Fracture wrote: »

hmmmmmm, seems like you cant keep your own attitude to yourself never mind worrying about others.
Tbh, the ocean race is gonna pump galway full of great and well needed business, i think a set off traffic lights is the last thing on anyones mind. If you have nothing better to do than complain and get annoyed by a set of traffic lights then you have one carefree life tbh.

1. Never mentioned traffic lights

2. Not contesting the much needed business

3. My initial post was concerned with my (personal opinion) on the events. It was subsequent posters ( who seem to have a post history of, quite rudely, defending such events) whenever someone goes against their (personal) preference.

Also, I'm fascinated by your leap in logic in which you take my (in your imagination) distaste for a set of traffic lights to mean I have a carefree life.Anyway, this is all off-topic and has nothing to do with the event now does it.

biko

From GI

The festivities will kick off with a fusion of Irish and Eastern European music by Kíla from 7.30pm on Saturday 23 May. The stopover will be officially opened in a special ceremony on Sunday 24 at 10pm, once all competing boats have entered the port. All entrants will then be presented with a commemorative plate designed by Judy Greene pottery.

The village will be open from 10am to 10.30pm daily, with slight extensions for the opening ceremony and arrival of boats. Sharon Shannon, The Stunning, The Hothouse Flowers, Aslan and The Coronas will all perform over the course of the event, alongside local acts including No Banjo, Lucia Evans and Trad on the Prom. All events will be free and open to the public.

There will also be attractions for young and old, including circus workshops, marine-themed exhibitions and amusements at the Race Village and on the Green Dragon route.

JohnCleary

Are they forgetting that the boats are running a few days behind? It'll be creat craic launching the event with no boats

Asmodean

I'm interested in this "village" what exactly is it?

JohnCleary

Asmodean wrote: »

I'm interested in this "village" what exactly is it?

From dictionary.com

vil⋅lage
–noun

1. a small community or group of houses in a rural area, larger than a hamlet and usually smaller than a town, and sometimes (as in parts of the U.S.) incorporated as a municipality.

2. the inhabitants of such a community collectively.

3. a group of animal dwellings resembling a village: a gopher village.

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

moonflower

Are all the events free?

biko

Magnus wrote: »

All events will be free and open to the public.

.

CrowdedHouse

I predict this boat thing will be the non event of the year....:D

/gets coat and leaves

happyoutscan

The 'village' is probably nothing more than a collection of marquees, stalls and tacky astroturf-style carpeting with the odd scattering of a shrubbery etc etc etc. Big events like the European Open/Ryder Cup have these 'villages' which usually consist of a public bar, champagne tent, simulator tent, (all in marquees obviously) etc. I could be wrong though, haven't looked at the website so shooting blind perhaps.

sarahirl

"The contentious issue of local hotel rates during the Ocean Race was also discussed at the meeting, with City Manager Joe MacGrath condemning the "greed" of three to four hotels in the city who had hugely increased their rates for the duration of the event."

a quick google search will show it's more than 3/4. jurys inn - ur havin a laugh mate!!! €230 to stay in a pokey 3* room? (this is for 23rd one night twin room btw). even the radisson is going for €190 and it's a 4*. although i have found to be fair that most b&bs are not jacking up their prices, so fair play to them!

also a good point was raised there that the opening ceremony won't be much fun without any boats. how do you find out updates on their progress? not much updating going on on the official website.

Storm 10

At present the boats are in Boston


Taken from the Volvo Website

Saturday 2 May 2009 08:00 GMT
The race village attendance figures for the arrivals are in and Boston stopover manager Peter Craig admitted he was “stunned” by how many people visited.
Crowds of “more than 20,000 people” flocked to Fan Pier to see the fleet complete its 4,900-nautical mile journey from Rio de Janeiro, a turnout that exceeded Craig’s expectations.

A crowd of 20,000 people turning out in Boston would not be very big when you consider there are a few million living there I dont know where the crowds they are saying will be in Galway will come from.

And what are you *charging* for this free weekend?

galwaybabe

A good few people I've spoken to think that this will be a big white elephant. I'm not so sure myself, there's a lot of folk out there who are mad into sailing.

foxy_19-89

Deleted User wrote: »

And what are you *charging* for this free weekend?

CLASSIC! haha!

galwaybabe wrote: »

A good few people I've spoken to think that this will be a big white elephant. I'm not so sure myself, there's a lot of folk out there who are mad into sailing.

I've spoken to a lot of 'sailory' type people and they have drilled it into me that Galway has no idea what its in for, and that it will be crazy busy. Sailing is huge in Dublin and Cork, it just hasnt hit Galway as hard (it defo will after this anyway!)

JohnCleary

foxy_19-89 wrote: »

I've spoken to a lot of 'sailory' type people and they have drilled it into me that Galway has no idea what its in for, and that it will be crazy busy. Sailing is huge in Dublin and Cork, it just hasnt hit Galway as hard (it defo will after this anyway!)

That's because Galway doesn't have the infrastructure for it. We don't even have a marina

(Galway docks is *not* a marina, it's just that... a docks)

Galway WILL be packed for this and yes, sailing is big in other parts of the country. All i'd be worried about is that people interested in the sport might be a bit shocked when they come to Galway and wonder how a place with such a lack of marine facilities got to be a stopover for a world-class sailing event. When I say this I mean the actual facilities ie. 24 hour access for the boats / landing pontoons for the public etc. I do NOT mean entertainment facilities as I think it's going to be a great festival and Lets Do It Galway seem to be doing a brilliant job at what they're supposed to be doing - just the actual sailing will be disappointing (which is kinda the whole point)

In summary: it's gonna be great craic with plenty of free entertainment, but if you're only coming for the sailing you might be in for a bit of a shock; the 'in harbour racing' is taking place on Galway Bay which will be a few miles off the prom (it's shallow around there and these boats have deep keels) and in a fairly sheltered bay (Galway Bay is sheletered in all but a nice westerly - yes, boats will move regardlerss of the direction of the wind, but won't be going very fast)

Steyr

The Red Arrows will be a huge crowd puller.

Discodog

Are the "Harbour" races just in the bay or are they going to race out to Aran & back ?.

galvianlord

Discodog wrote: »

Are the "Harbour" races just in the bay or are they going to race out to Aran & back ?.

from what i remem of one of the public info evenings they had, they're in the bay off salthill. they had a box outlined in which they would occur, didnt stretch as far as Aran...prob in the area you see the yachts from Renville sailing and racing.

Discodog

That would a huge waste of opportunity. A run out to the Islands would give a chance for thousands of spectators to get a view. It must of been rumoured as lots of people are expecting it.


Has there been any info as to whether the Arrows are just doing a fly past or a full display ? . If it's a display where will the display line be ?. If it were off the harbour (they cannot display over the city) it won't be as easy to view than at Salthill. The Arrows are a huge draw & the organiser need to do a "where is best to view events map".

Zzippy

sarahirl wrote: »

also a good point was raised there that the opening ceremony won't be much fun without any boats. how do you find out updates on their progress? not much updating going on on the official website.

The boats won't be leaving Boston til the 16th, so there won't be too much progress towards Galway before then!

ednwireland

before anyone more gives out i'm coming down from donegal to watch this (followed the volvo ocean race for years so looking forward to seeing the boats ) also boo to the hotels who want upto 300 euro a night , yay to the b and b's who seem to be charging normal rates