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There is growing confidence in Galway this weekend that not alone will the city will be named as a stopover port for the 2012 Volvo Ocean Race, but that it is in with a great chance of hosting the finish of the race — an award that would multiply the massive coverage it received last year.

Galway’s bid to host another stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race took a huge leap forward this week with the Government’s commitment to offer financial backing. Now the organisers, Let’s Do It Global, are hoping the Galway city and county councils and private business will follow its lead.

Galway received its first glimpse of its entry into this year’s Volvo Ocean Race when it sailed into the city on Sunday amid of flotilla of supporting yachts.

Just a week before the world’s greatest ocean race begins, Ireland’s entry, the Green Dragon, has been handed a major financial boost.

If a crossroad is a watershed indicating a choice to be made, then Claremorris is the crossroad of the west of Ireland.

By its very nature the 35,000 mile Volvo Ocean Race that started from Alicante on Saturday attracts the hardiest of sailors. They are usually men with tough teak muscles and a hell of a lot of fortitude, capable of withstanding the roughest of seas in temperatures that can range from -5 to 50 Celcius.

Ireland’s Green Dragon, currently sailing down the coast of Africa towards Cape Town on the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, is the first to deal its “stealth” card.

In Alicante it was Tom Roche of the National Toll Roads, and on Saturday in Capetown it was the turn of Galway solicitor Brian Lynch to take the plunge.

The countdown has begun in earnest for the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in May, and the organisers are calling on the city to “pull together” to showcase Galway for the long-term benefit of the local economy.

Many thought it would not happen before the Volvo Ocean Race. Many believed it would not happen long after the race left Galway, but this week it was confirmed that the massive oil tanks at the docks will be taken down by the end of April.