Volvo Ocean Race contenders Team Alvimedica kicked off their training last week in Lisbon, Portugal, attracting a collection of prospective crew to join American team leaders Mark Towill (25) and Charlie Enright (29) prepare to form the youngest ever Volvo Ocean Race team.

From the team’s temporary base in Portugal, they will put themselves through gruelling in-shore and off-shore training, as well as assessing candidates sailing skills, physical strength and mental discipline. A total of 16 potential crew candidates from the United States, Turkey, Italy, New Zealand and England, with an average age of 27 years old, will participate in the crew tryouts.

The team will be in Lisbon through 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 early July before crossing the Atlantic again for the UK. The final crew selection is planned to be announced in July.

Photos by Gilles Martin-Raget

Source: Alvimedica

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, The Netherlands, 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