Alvimedica enters the Volvo Ocean Race

by Alvimedica Media on 31 Jan 2014
Alvimedica, the Turkey based medical device company in interventional cardiology, has announced its sponsorship in one of the world’s most prestigious and exciting sailing adventures : the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

At a press conference held in Istanbul Alvimedica CEO Dr. Cem Bozkurt expressed his pride in being the first Turkish based brand to join the Volvo Ocean Race: 'As a young, fast growing medical device company operating globally; sailing has been our focus in sports. We’ve been joining races with a sailing team formed up of our employees the last 2 years. Now, with a young, professional team, our next flagship event will be the Volvo Ocean Race, one of the world’s most challenging races.'

With this sponsorship Alvimedica wishes to carry its global ambitions in medical devices to the next level: 'In 2013 Alvimedica completed a merger with an Italian medical devices company. This is how we became the largest company in Europe in our field. Our next target will be to enter the North American market. The Volvo Ocean Race is the perfect platform to express our worldwide ambitions - we're young and agile, we love challenges, we thrive on modern technology and we firmly believe that teamwork creates the best results. That's the spirit of the Volvo Ocean Race too!' stated CEO Dr.Cem Bozkurt.

Alvimedica presented Mark Towill (25) and Charlie Enright (29) during the press conference, the first two crew members of Team Alvimedica being announced.. Towill and Enright informed that they’ll be looking for young and international challengers in the coming weeks for crew recruitments. The Team Alvimedica crew will be managed by Bill Erkelens, former head of Team Oracle BMW in the Americas Cup.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad said he was excited to have such a young and ambitious team in the race, and continued: 'This is one of the most exciting new teams I've seen since I’ve started this job. Team Alvimedica is everything I have dreamed of since 2008 when I joined the Race management: young people and a young company taking the initiative to start a project.'

Held every three years, Volvo Ocean Race is one of the most popular spectator sports after Formula 1 and the World Cup. The event appeals to sailing enthusiasts as well as sports fans around the world. This year, the race will begin with a spectacular ceremony in Alicante, Spain on October 4, and end in Goteborg, Sweden on June 27, 2015. The teams will cover 40,000 nautical miles, battling against 20-meter swells, minus 40 degree cold, icebergs, intense weather, gale-force winds, as well as extreme heat.

The teams will cross four oceans and five continents during the 9-month race, and call at 10 ports: Spain (Alicante), South Africa (Cape Town), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi), China (Sanya), New Zealand (Auckland), Brazil (Itajai), America (Newport), Portugal (Lisbon), France (Lorient) and Sweden (Goteborg).

VO65: the new boat for maximum competition
Celebrating its 40th year, Volvo Ocean Race has a new boat for the 2014-2015 race. All teams will now compete in identical boats for a grueling 9 months to ensure that the skills of the teams and their members are tested to the max.

The new boatVO65, is designed by Farr Yacht Design in the United States, with a consortium of four boatyards taking care of the build process - Green Marine in the United Kingdom, Decision in Switzerland, Multiplast in France and Persico in Italy. More than 120 people worked for a total of 36.000 man-hours in the building of VO65.

VO65 specifications:
Hull length: 20,37 meters
Hull beam: 5,60 meters
Weight: 12.500 kilograms
Rig height: 30,30 meters
Sail area: 468 square meters (mainsail)

The new design of the VO65 allows for more images to be captured on the boat, and makes it easier to follow the race online.

About Alvimedica:
Alvimedica is a young, agile company devoted to developing minimally-invasive medical technologies for medical professionals looking for the next level of innovation in the operating room. We firmly believe that working closely with physicians is the best way to improve our product solutions and services; 'co-creation' in the interest of patients around the globe - that's what shapes us as a company. We invite medical professionals to visit our Centers of Excellence in R&D in Turkey, Italy and the Netherlands, to present and discuss new treatment options. Our 'co-creation approach' results in a growing and innovative product portfolio for both endovascular and interventional cardiology.