The news this week that he has secured sponsorship at the 11th hour puts him back on course for his entry in sailing's most gruelling race round the world in 29 days.
An official announcement is due next week.
Many scoffed at his chances of making the line at all. O'Rourke's low-cost approach was dismissed as a backmarker and his bid was on the rocks within months of its announcement. By late July he was ready to pull the plug on a 4 million Euro project because much-needed sponsorship vanished when capital markets nosedived.
Now, after a gap of 20 years since Ireland last had an entry, the news that Delta Lloyd, a Dutch financial services provider, has backed O'Rourke will underpin his 39,000-mile voyage around the world. It also gives Ireland two of the seven teams in the 2008/09 race.
The Galway-backed Green Dragon team are already at the race start in Spain making final preparations.
O'Rourke is yet to complete the compulsory, 2,000-mile qualification passage, and it's expected this will be the delivery trip from Foynes to Alicante in the next week.
His crew line-up includes Stu Wilson, a Kiwi veteran with four round-the-world races under his belt who is understood to be the number one watch leader. Another New Zealander, Stu Molloy, will be another watch-leader.
O'Rourke is also taking with him crew from his Chieftain campaign, including boat captain Mark Tighe, Edward O'Connor and Brian Heuston. The navigator position is yet to be filled.
When O'Rourke crosses the line it will be a significant achievement in itself.
David O'Brien in the Irish Times, the full article at www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2008/0905/1220544893065.html
In any yacht race, if the wind changes direction anything can happen. The last few months have been like that for Ger O'Rourke, chasing his dream of entering next month's Volvo Ocean Race. It's an against-all-the-odds story, and that's even before the race begins. The Limerick sailor confounded pundits when news of the last-minute bid broke in this column on May 30th, but by July O'Rourke's bid was sinking before it left the dock due to lack of sponsorship.
