Volvo Ocean Race- Your chance to join the Team Alvimedica In Port crew

by Sail-World.com NZL on 13 Feb 2015 As part of a world wide campaign to raise funds for various heart charities around the world, Team Alvimedica are offering places in the In-Port Race Team as well as being in the Jump Seat at the start of each Leg.

The Jump Seat experience involves departing the dock with the race crew and being on board for the initial racing before the fleet leaves the stopover port. The initial part of the Leg is sailed inshore with each of the Volvo Ocean Race teams having a Jump Seat guest on board. The Jump Seat riders experience the exhilarating moments of the start before leaping overboard at a safe moment in the race. The 'Jumpers' are then retrieved by a tender boat and brought safely back to shore.

All of the funds raised from the team’s auction go directly to the locally designated heart charity. Sailing fans have the chance to bid on bringing their own team of six people to join the Team Alvimedica race crew on one of the Pro-Am Races in the stopover. These in-port races precede the leg start and offer sailing fans the rare opportunity to actually be involved in crew maneuvers with the professional race team as they compete against the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Bids can be placed on the team’s web site here.

The Team and its owner, medical devices company Alvimedica, have unveiled an ambitious World Heart Health Charity Tour, a global initiative to raise funds and awareness for heart health.

While the young sailors on board Team Alvimedica are racing around the world, they are leaving in their wake significant donations to a children’s heart health charity at each of the 10 stopover ports of this challenging global competition.

The team raises the funds through an online auction on the team’s website (watch the World Heart Health Charity Video here) where bids can be made on two separate once-in-a lifetime experiences on board with Team Alvimedica at each of the race’s ten stopover ports.

The team has successfully raised close to $40,000 USD since the start of the global race in Alicante, Spain, and at the three following stopovers in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and China.

The team has announced a complete roster of charity recipients including the charity partners in the upcoming New Zealand stopover and the team’s homeport of Newport, Rhode Island, the race’s only USA stopover May 5-17.

In the United States, February is designated as American Heart Month providing the ideal timing for Newport’s home team to formalize the global initiative.

'Following successful initiatives at the first four stops of this international race, we are pleased to now formally confirm our charity partners for the remaining six stopovers around the world,' said Dr. Cem Bozkurt, CEO of Alvimedica, the global maker of minimally-invasive medical devices. 'Today we are proud to announce our charity partners in the World Heart Health Charity Tour.'

The charity partners for the upcoming race stopovers were confirmed today with more details to be announced closer to the stopover port associated with each of the following charities.

• Heart Kids and Starship Foundation, New Zealand: Heart Kids NZ is the only charity in New Zealand supporting children born with congenital heart defects (CHD) throughout their entire lives. Heart Kids receives no government funding and relies on support from generous partners and communities to provide support services for children and families affected by CHD across New Zealand. Starship Foundation is New Zealand’s national children’s hospital. There are over 110,000 patient visits to Starship Children’s Health every year by children from all over New Zealand. https://www.starship.org.nz [Sorry, this link had a problem]!Starship is a social-profit organization that raises funds so Starship Children’s Health can better care for its young patients.

• AVISA, Itajai, Brazil: AVISA is a healthy childhood volunteering association working closely with Hospital Infantil Pequeno Anjo of Itajai, Brazil. The funds raised through the auction will be earmarked for a children’s heart health initiative providing testing for children in remote areas of Brazil to identify heart defects. These children then receive consultation remotely from pediatric cardiologists allowing the patient to receive treatment locally without having to relocate their families. Hospital Pequeno Anjo is supported by http://www.univali.br/Paginas/default.aspx!Universidade_do_Vale_do_Itajai_Foundation [Sorry, this link had a problem].

• www.lifespan.org!Lifespan_of_Providence [Sorry, this link had a problem], Rhode Island: A five-partner, not-for-profit health system, it includes three teaching hospitals: The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University: Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital; The Miriam Hospital; and Bradley Hospital. It also includes Newport Hospital and Gateway Healthcare. All Lifespan-affiliated partners are charitable organizations that depend on support from the community to provide programs and services.

• http://associacaocoragem.webnode.pt/!Associação_Coragem [Sorry, this link had a problem] (Courage Association) is a charity based at Hospital de Santa Cruz, Lisbon, Portugal, which is closely linked with the Department of Pediatric Cardiology. Its main goals are to promote awareness of cardiac diseases in childhood; support of families and pediatric patients with heart disease; cooperation with national and international organizations for the support of children with heart disease.

• Mécénat-cardiaque.org, Lorient, France: The French organization supports children suffering from heart diseases who can't be operated in their country. Through a solidarity chain of host families, volunteers and cardiology professionals, this organization has already saved 2,500 children.

• Hjart-Lungfonden.se, Stockholm, Sweden: The Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation raises funds and distributes money to cardiovascular and pulmonary research in Sweden. The progress has been tremendous since it started in 1904. The pacemaker, the development of beta-blockers and the heart-lung machine are just a few of many crucial milestones that have been achieved. A little child with a congenital heart defect can usually go through surgery with great success. Thanks to the Swedish www.hjart-lungfonden.se!Heart-Lung_Foundation [Sorry, this link had a problem], advances in research and technical innovations, we can help save the lives of thousands every year.

As part of Alvimedica’s commitment and care in the field of cardiology, the program was launched with the objective to help raise heart health awareness and support local pediatric cardiac health charities around the world. 'This program is a win-win for our sailing fans who can access an amazing experience with our team while benefiting a heart health charity at the same time,' Bozkurt said. 'Our sailors have fully embraced this program and find that the time they can spend in each port with children who are overcoming challenges of heart disease is a truly humbling experience.'

The team’s young American skipper Charlie Enright, 30, of Bristol, RI, has visited with children recovering from heart disease at each stop of the race to date. Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect and affects at least 1 in every 100 children with between 20-40 percent of children affected needing surgery. Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of American women and men.

'Team Alvimedica gives us an opportunity to touch a number of local communities and it's great for us to be able to give back everywhere we go. The World Heart Health Charity Tour initiative gives us a more global perspective to appreciate what else is going on in the world as we are sailing around it.'

• www.menudoscorazones.org!Menudos_Corazones_Foundation [Sorry, this link had a problem], Spain’s national children’s heart charity, was the first recipient at the race in Alicante, Spain. The non-profit-making organization’s mission is to carry out programs and activities necessary for improving the quality of life of children and young people with congenital heart defects and their families.

• http://www.pcssa.org/!Paediatric_Cardiac_Society_of_South_Africa [Sorry, this link had a problem], the NGO committed to improving quality of care for children with congenital and acquired heart diseases.

• https://www.abudhabi.ae/portal/public/en/citizens/religion_and_community/volunteering/!Zayed_Giving_Initiative [Sorry, this link had a problem], Abu Dhabi, UAE: Auction proceeds were earmarked to support the Mobile Heart Clinic Program, touring the seven Emirates with volunteer healthcare professionals to provide heart health awareness, prevention and screening.

•http://www.chineseagape.org!Chinese_Agape_Foundation [Sorry, this link had a problem]: A United States 501(c)(3) charitable organization with a mission to provide physical care and education for the millions of underprivileged children of China, including surgeries, in either China or the USA, for poor children with congenital heart diseases.

How to be part of the In-Port Action: All of the funds raised from the team’s auction go directly to the locally designated heart charity. Sailing fans have the chance to bid on bringing their own team of six people to join the Team Alvimedica race crew on one of the Pro-Am Races in the stopover. These in-port races precede the leg start and offer sailing fans the rare opportunity to actually be involved in crew maneuvers with the professional race team as they compete against the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Bids can be placed on the team’s web site here.

Your chance to occupy the Jump Seat: This experience involves departing the dock with the race crew and being on board for the initial racing before the fleet leaves the stopover port. The initial part of the Leg is sailed inshore with each of the Volvo Ocean Race teams having a Jump Seat guest on board. The Jump Seat riders experience the exhilarating moments of the start before leaping overboard at a safe moment in the race. The 'Jumpers' are then retrieved by a tender boat and brought safely back to shore.