A huge and very excited Saturday night crowd was on the dockside, principally waiting to celebrate the arrival of Green Dragon, their hometown boat, but Ericsson 4 benefitted from a raucous welcome as they drew alongside.

After fighting his way ashore, Brazilian skipper Torben Grael said : “It’s nice to get first place. It’s another big step towards our goal, so we’re pretty happy about it.”

The North Atlantic threw everything it could at the seven-strong fleet, which revelled in the fast downwind conditions. Many of the crews have declared the sailing on this leg as the best they have ever experienced and there was plenty to contend with. Thick fog, a myriad of lobster pots followed by a whale exclusion zone, a scoring gate – which Ericsson 4 rounded in third place – and an ice exclusion zone to negotiate all added to the mix before the high-speed drag race to the finish, which proved to be a nail-biting thriller.

Reflecting on Ericsson 4’s leg, Grael said, “The beginning was tough. There was a big decision once we realised we couldn’t get the first two positions at the gate, so we positioned ourselves for the rest of the leg.

“Then when we got this big front, we split from the fleet, which worked out well, but it was risky and it was a rough ride in. We had to push it to have a good position, so it was tough.

Ericsson 4 sailed the first half of this leg conservatively, only rising to the top of the pack on 19 May, day four. The remainder of the leg was spent either in first or second place, with the exception of a blip on day six when the team dropped briefly to fourth place.

“It’s always a matter of risk against return,” said Grael today. “If you think it’s worth running the risk, you take it. That’s the game. We were conservative at times on this leg but took some big risks as well.”

It has been edge of the seat stuff watching the fight for the top three places in leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race play out right to the bitter end. This morning, at 0219 GMT, PUMA pipped hometown boat Green Dragon to second place, but only by three miles. The Dragons finished 11 minutes later at 0231 GMT, greeted by a very large and noisy Galway crowd.

Celebrations tonight in Galway are huge. With three Irish sailors on board - Ian Moore, Damian Foxall and Justin Slattery - the Dragon has completed her circumnavigation, and earned one of its strongest leg finishes to date.

“It’s unbelievable. Phenomenal,” said Green Dragon’s Irish navigator Ian Moore. “This is pretty special. Being an Irishman on an Irish boat finishing in an Irish port... I don’t think anyone will ever forget this.”

This leg has been far from easy for Green Dragon, who rounded the scoring gate in last place. ““To be so far behind at the beginning and then to catch up was just through hard graft... The guys worked so hard. We’re a bit slower than the others and the only way to catch up is to work harder,” Moore explained.

Ian Walker/GBR, skipper of Green Dragon, his first entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, was almost lost for words on arrival in Galway.

“I’m flabbergasted. The number of people, the number of boats. There must have been 500 boats out there. All at four in the morning. Some of them in little RIBs 30 miles offshore, shouting us on. Is the whole town here ? Did anyone stay in bed tonight ?

“Given our recent run, third place was beyond our expectations, but that is what we strive for. We knew if we got heavy downwind conditions, that was the one thing we could do well in,” he said.

For Green Dragon, the strategy was to stay in touch with the fleet and wait for the right moment to pounce. They did just that.

“I think we managed to just keep going, keep going... We did a number of things well. First, we stayed close. We stayed close enough that we could attack when it got windy. We managed to pull more miles and we chose the perfect place to gybe. I think we got just the right spot,” Walker explained

It has been 20 years since Ireland made its debut into what was then the Whitbread Round the World Race (1989-90) with NCB Ireland. Finishing third in their homeport means everything to the Green Dragon team.

“We desperately wanted to get third. We desperately wanted to get on the podium,” said an elated Walker.

Although PUMA has posted a string of second places (legs one, three, four and seven), the coveted winners’ position has, so far, eluded them, but the team was still thrilled with second place, particularly as they lost one of their rudders in the heavy seas two days ago and had to fit their emergency steering.

“This is as good as it gets,” said skipper Kenny Read. “That was some of the best sailing we’ve ever done in our whole lives. To come back after breaking the rudder like that. This crew is unbelievable. It’s almost like we thrive on adversity. We don’t know how to be normal. “

Telefónica Blue finished in fourth place at 0242 GMT. Yesterday, skipper Bouwe Bekking wrote, “We are fighting like gladiators, but we can’t get more speed out of our puppy. We feel we made improvements, but we are still missing that little bit of pace to stay up front.”

The finishing order tonight does not change the overall top three positions. Ericsson 4, who won this leg earlier today, continues to steal a march and top the leaderboard while just 1.5 points separate Telefónica Blue in second from PUMA in third. Green Dragon lies fifth overall.