Volvo Ocean Race crew Team Alvimedica reflects on the past two weeks

by Team Alvimedica on 14 Jul 2014 Volvo Ocean Race entry Team Alvimedica report on their progress since arriving in Newport, RI.

It's hard to believe it will be a month tomorrow since we arrived to Newport. Now on the eve of our departure back across the Atlantic, we just wanted to reflect on the past two weeks since we last checked in.

On June 28, we enjoyed a very special day in Newport. We celebrated the naming of our boat with a formal public ceremony at Newport Shipyard. It was great to have Alvimedica CEO Cem Bozkurt, Campaign Director Anna Bernsten and the rest of the Alvimedica team here from Europe to celebrate this milestone together as a team. We realized we have come a long way in our few short months together.

Former US Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin did the honors of naming the boat and she smashed the champagne perfectly - hopefully good luck for the days at sea ahead. It was an honor to have such a leader in healthcare wish us safe sailing. We feel fortunate to have such a 'Godmother' for our voyage.

Following the celebrations, it was back to business as usual. In addition to training, we have used some of the time here to finalize our race crew and do lots of planning for the race ahead - the start is now only three months away! We also started some of our baseline medical exams as we prepare for the physical test ahead. Alvimedica is really looking after the crew's well-being and you will be hearing more about this in the months ahead.

And now it's time to prepare to cross the Atlantic once again. We will leave on Wednesday July 9 at 2pm. The plan is to do a promo start with our Volvo Ocean Race opponent Abu Dhabi. We are both headed to the UK so thought we would sail out of Newport together.

We hope to see you on the shores of Fort Adams or on Narragansett Bay on Wednesday. We will dock out of Newport Shipyard at 1pm for a 2pm start. And you won't see us back here until May 5, 2015 when we arrive for the only North American stopover here.

The time in Newport has been tremendous. We have met so many fans of so many ages. We are so grateful for the warm welcome everywhere we went in the greater Newport area. We are so proud to have Newport as our homeport as we take on the challenge of our lives. We can't thank you all enough and we hope to see each and every one of you on the dock in May 2015!

The team is posting a special gallery of Newport Training photos to our Facebook page tomorrow so please be sure to check it out - international sailing photographer Daniel Forster went up in a helicopter as we finished our final training session in Newport in 25-plus knots - the photos are Team Alvimedica website