Team Alvimedica on track for Volvo Ocean Race

The 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race starts October 4 and will take the fleet to 11 cities in 11 countries. When the race arrives in Newport, RI, in May 2015, Team Alvimedica is expected to be in the spotlight.

The team is led by Rhode Island native Charlie Enright as skipper and Hawaiian Mark Towill as General Manager, who both attended Brown University in Providence.

Charlie and Mark first met in August 2006 as part of the Morning Light movie project, later racing together in July 2007 in the Transpac Race. Now at 29 and 26 years respectively, they are leading a much needed youth movement in the Volvo Ocean Race.

After announcing their team on January 30, Team Alvimedica launched their new Volvo Ocean 65 boat on April 11 in Southampton, UK. Here’s an update going forward:

Crew recruitment
The team has 10 sailors in Lisbon, Portugal and will begin sailing on Tuesday, April 22. They are all living under one roof and will be getting to know each other well. The roster will get adjusted accordingly based on the training sessions in April and May. The plan is to keep the same squad for the whole race, knowing full well that it rarely works out that way. They will fill out safety course with substitutes and alternates.

Training schedule
The team will be in Lisbon for April and May, and will be coming to Newport, RI in early June – sometime during the second week. The team will be there with the boat until July 9th at which point they will sail it back to the UK for the Around Britain and Ireland Race. They will do their transatlantic crossing with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker, skipper), and expect to be sailing against a number of the teams in the 1802nm Round Britain and Ireland Race, which starts on August 10.

Initial observations about the VO65
The boats are extremely well built and will perform well. The team just did 850 miles after a couple days of sea trials and everything worked well. They were advertised as turnkey and they have delivered on that. Now it’s just a matter of improving some of the systems.

Background: The 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race starts October 4 and will take the fleet to 11 cities in 11 countries – Spain, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, Brazil, United States, Portugal, France and Sweden – and will require the teams to cover 38,739 nautical miles. It will be the first edition using the new one design Volvo Ocean 65 racing boats. Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html