Volvo Ocean Race - Update from Alvimedica's Charlie and Mark

by Charlie and Mark, Team Alvimedica on 19 Nov 2014 Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 - Team Alvimedica co-founders Skipper Charlie Enright and Mark Towill check in with an update from Cape Town. Leg Two to Abu Dhabi starts this evening from Cape Town at 6pm local time.

We start Leg two to Abu Dhabi this evening, what could be 30 days of stop-start racing through the notoriously tricky Indian Ocean. It will be an emotional departure from Cape Town. The people here are so friendly, so welcoming, and we’ve had some incredible experiences while staying in this beautiful city.

We attended a service at St George’s Cathedral, which was run by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. As he is for so many people, Tutu is a hero to us, for his courage to face up to some of the great injustices in the world, yet always with such a gentle demeanor, with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. He asked us to tell the congregation where we were from, and what had brought us to Cape Town. He then wished us well on our adventures, and said: 'May the wind always be at your back, or wherever you’d like the wind to come from!' Well, who wouldn’t want that kind of blessing!

Equally moving, perhaps more so, was a visit to the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, the only paediatric hospital in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Liesl Zühlke, President of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa, and the cardiologists introduced us to some of the kids with heart disease, some of them recovering from major surgery. As you can imagine, it was a tough visit in many ways, but really heart warming too. It’s great to make these local connections as we sail around the world.

It puts what we do into perspective, and it makes us proud to be doing our bit to help raise funds and awareness of these great organizations.

Alvimedica CEO Cem Bozkurt is the driving force behind this initiative. He kicked off our ‘Jump Seat’ auction by paying €10,000 for the opportunity to do the first hour of racing of Leg one before jumping overboard and being brought back to dry land in Alicante. Now we are offering the ‘Jump Seat’ to the highest bidder at every stopover, plus other bidding opportunities to join in with our In Port Pro-Am Racing. Maybe you want to think about joining us for one of the future legs? Bids can be placed on the team’s web site at www.teamalvimedica.com/auction.

We’re really happy with how things went in Leg one. Of course there’s lots of room for improvement, but we are young and hungry, and our team work ethic is stronger than ever. We’re all pulling for each other, and we believe Team Alvimedica has got a lot more to show our fans and rivals. Keeping the mind and body in the best of health has always been a challenge in this race, which is why all of us on the boat are going through a detailed medical study that has been commissioned by Alvimedica. Hopefully the feedback will help keep us in the best of health all the way through to the end of the race next June. Losing too much body mass is always a hazard of offshore racing like this, but we’re pleased to report that on average we each lost just 1.9kg on Leg one, the best score of any of the seven teams.

Leg one was long, but there’s every chance Leg two could be even longer. We’re thinking maybe 27 days to get to Abu Dhabi, although we’re putting on enough food for 30. It could be rough heading out of Cape Town, with the potential for big breeze and fast currents. Once we get up towards Madagascar we’re heading towards the unpredictability of the tropics. There’s talk of tropical storms throwing themselves in our path, so there are some challenging obstacles to negotiate. It could be a tricky game of snakes and ladders, but we can’t wait!

Take a look at the team’s activities in Cape Town.



We hope you’re enjoying following our progress in the race … we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you and stay tuned...
Event website