Newport to host ‘ World Cup of sailing’

As a two-time survivor of the Volvo Ocean Race, Newport’s Ken Read knows all about the challenges of sailing around the world for nine grueling months.

Charlie Enright is a protégé of Read’s on the international sailing circuit. Now 29, Enright grew up in Bristol racing Optimists and Mercuries at the Bristol Yacht Club. He became an All-American at Brown and has skippered boats in major races around the world, but Read has told his pal that the Volvo is a race unlike any other.

“Like all youngsters, he picks and chooses what to listen to,” Read said with a laugh. “Like me, Charlie has one of his life goals set on this race, and God bless him. I’ve told him that you don’t know what you don’t know yet in a race like this.”

Asked about Read’s warnings, Enright smiles and says “he’s tried. I’m not listening.”

Now, just four months away from the start of the Volvo Ocean Race, Enright is learning at a rapid pace. Before the seven entries approach the starting line in Alicante, Spain, in October, Enright and partner Mark Towill are acting as co-CEOs of a syndicate that could cost $15 million to $20 million. They arrived in Newport from Lisbon with their Volvo Ocean 65 last week and will spend the next three weeks in Rhode Island assembling a team of eight sailors ready for the toughest journey of their lives.

Next May, the Volvo race will complete its sixth of nine legs and arrive in Newport after a 5,000-mile trip from Itajai, Brazil. Sail Newport and the Department of Environmental Management are planning on welcoming 10,000-plus visitors a day to a Race Village at Fort Adams State Park. Hotel rooms are already scarce and the economic impact for the state is estimated at $40 million.

“The Volvo Ocean Race is like the World Cup of sailing,” Enright said. “It’s the pinnacle of ocean racing and will bring people from around the world to Newport. It will be great to see the whole sailing community get behind it.” – Providence Journal, read on