Volvo Ocean Race- Ryan Houston - How Alvimedica's chemistry works

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com on 27 Feb 2015 Ryan Houston is a watch captain aboard Team Alvimedica. He sailed in two previous editions of the Volvo Ocean Race – in 2008-09 aboard Delta Lloyd and 2011-12 on the incident plagued Volvo 70, Sanya.

With the switch to the one design, ruggedly constructed Volvo 65 for this race, and the next, many of the issues that bedevilled the competitors and organisers in the previous races appear to have been resolved.

The race has taken on a new complexion, with no boat enjoying a design edge – either all round or in a particular condition.

'This is a lot different than the last race', he notes. 'It is coming down to the sailors. I think that the team that wins this race will deserve it. It is the little things that are getting people ahead.

'A three mile gain in this race is a big gain - while in the last race you weren’t happy with that sort of lead. Now, even if we are just a mile ahead - it is quite a long way.

'Definitely the racing is a lot closer. The little distances are worth a lot. I think that is because of the one design aspect of the boats. Everyone is commenting on that. It comes down to factors like the drivers, how you trim the sales and were you put the weight on the boat.'

To outside observers, one of the obvious conundrums aboard the US-Turkish flagged, American skippered Team Alvimedica, is the fact that that many of the crew on boat have more Volvo Ocean Race experience than skipper Charlie Enright and general manager Mark Towill (both USA) who put the campaign together. Both Enright and Towill are on their first Volvo Ocean Race.

'The decision always comes down to Charlie,' says Houston explaining how the team dynamics work aboard Team Alvimedica. 'Like any crew we try to give him the best information we possibly can. When I signed up for the program, Charlie was all ears and all listening.

'Now if you say something and he has a better opinion, he normally says 'No, this is what we are going for'.

'When the senior guys on the crew talk, Charlie and Mark listen. But the final decision always comes down to Charlie.

'We knew what we were signing up for in terms of previous Volvo Ocean Race experience with Mark and Charlie.'

A cornerstone of the Team Alvimedica crew is highly experienced navigator Will Oxley, with 13 Sydney Hobart Races on his record and is on his third Volvo Ocean race. Oxley has sailed more than 240,000nm and provides a very useful offset to other experience in the crew.

'Will also does a very good job - being a teacher more than a director,' says Houston. 'He lets us learn from our mistakes.'

'The two main drivers in our decision-making are Will and Charlie. Mark has quite a good tactical background from all his match racing and fleet racing.

My experience is more on the ocean sailing side. I am more into clouds and that sort of stuff.!'

'On Team Alvimedica, when someone gets into an area they don’t know much about, they tend to stand back, listen to the conversation and then come back in when they do know what they are talking about.

'It is a hard dynamic to explain, but it has just worked itself out over time', he adds.

With just eight sailing crew, fatigue is at the forefront of most crews’ thinking. A key part of that is sleep management.

'We run a watch system with three on deck always, and changing every two hours,' Houston explains. 'Charlie floats between both watches. Will concentrates on navigating, he may come up on deck for an hour on one of the two-hour watches.

'We are very strict on the how balance the watch system. However, we are all up for sail changes and that sort of thing.

'The crew numbers make a big difference in something like stacking the boat. When you are just doing it within a watch, it might take 20 minutes, with a full crew the same task will take 5-10 minutes.

'In a manoeuvre we have all crew on deck, we tack the boat, set it back up, and then we slip back into our watches, with Will and Charlie staying up on deck.

'In that situation we try to sail the boat with five or six crew on deck

'Even if you just get down onto your bunk for 20-25 minutes it is better than sitting on deck. The problem is that intense periods of sailing can keep going for three or four days, and if you are not strict on your watches, then you have an exhausted crew.'

A tough night for most competitors was beating up the Vietnam coast towards the end of Leg 3. It was a big night with a lot of tacking and weaving through fleets of largely unlit fishing boats.

'Once we were out of that it seems like we are back in the ocean again – but because we only had 600nm to the finish it became more like an inshore race to the finish at Sanya.

'If you haven’t properly managed your sleep you are not going to be able to put the big effort in at the end,’ Houston adds.

Ryan Houston has fond memories of his last arrival into Auckland in the Volvo Ocean Race.

'I’m looking forward to Auckland,' he says. 'I remember sailing into Auckland in the last race on Sanya. Hopefully, we will be able to sail into Auckland with some good wind as well. I am very excited about returning home.'