First blood to Team Alvimedica

Multiple lead changes in the Volvo Ocean Race's opening salvo, the Alicante In-Port race

Charlie Enright led his young Team Alvimedica crew to victory in the opening In-Port Race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 on Saturday. The three lap windward-leeward held in 10-14 knots of wind and a building sea breeze  that could barely have been tighter with the lead changed hands several times.

The Alicante In-Port Race does not even count towards the offshore overall trophy apart from as a tie-breaker, although now to give the In-Ports some slight value they have their own separate championship. But the victory came as a welcome confidence-builder for the Turkish-American team.

Enright was impressively poised afterwards: "Surprised that we're able to do well? Not that much. We've had some good practice, the guys have been working really hard on maneuvres and we're happy with the win. We haven't done anything that counts for the overall trophy yet, but it's a confidence builder, it gives us the feeling that we can do well again."

Team Alvimedica made a solid, but unspectacular start that placed them in the top half of the seven-boat fleet. Enright was happy to take a conservative approach: “Try to stay out of trouble, that was the aim. We didn't have the greatest start but we wanted to give ourselves options. The pin end was really favored and we just tried to avoid the clump and give ourselves a chance. We took our times on the manoeuvres, tried to keep it simple, and kept on chipping away."

A successful port tack start by Dongfeng Race Team, winner of yesterday's practice race, caused the Franco-Chinese team to grab the early initiative. At the top mark she held a marginal advantage over Team Vestas Wind and managed to roll over the top of them, forcing skipper Chris Nicholson to gybe away. However Nicholson failed to spot the fast-approaching Team Alvimedica which forced another gybe on the Danish boat.

Meanwhile down the other side of the course Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had avoided all the traffic and ploughed a lonely but successful path down the right-hand side of the track. This put Ian Walker’s team in front by a healthy margin with Team Alvimedica avoiding the logjam at the leeward gate marks. “You've got to commit to these laylines, and we owned our side of the gate, which gave us a clean exit on the second upwind leg,“ said Enright.

The early leaders Dongfeng Race Team and Team Vestas Wind saw their advantages completely slip away as they got caught up in the jam at the bottom of the course, while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing surged away to a nice lead, with Team Alvimedica just ahead of the marauding pack. At the top of the course on the second lap, Walker again chose the right-hand side of the course to bring him back downwind while in second place, Team Alvimedica tactician Alberto Bolzan opted for the left.

Bolzan’s tactical choice had proven correct as by the bottom of the course, Team Alvimedica arrived back at the leeward gate neck and neck with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Walker’s lead entirely eroded. After splitting up different sides of the course, when they came back together at the final top marks, Team Alvimedica was ahead, the UAE team's plight hampered by a problem with their furler, but on the final few hundred meters to the finish, Abu Dhabi went on the assault as they tried to roll over the top of Alvimedica just as they were completing their gybe.

For some heart-stopping moments it looked like Walker and his crew would steal Alvimedica’s wind but the crew wound the handles hard to get the gennaker fully set and pulling again. “We were at risk of being rolled by Abu Dhabi, but we couldn't have played it much differently,” Enright said. “The boys ripped that sail around real fast, but he had a shot at rolling us, and luckily we got going again just in time. We were kind of lucky that the Spanish weren't too far away, so Abu Dhabi had someone else to think about too."

Enright's crew hung on to finish just five seconds ahead of the UAE team with Spanish entrants Mapfre third a further 25 seconds adrift.

Dongfeng crossed just behind Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing but at the final top mark rounding, but  they lost a minute or so trying to get the A3 unfurled and working.

For Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier to be in the top three for the majority of the race has certainly had a positive affect on the team. “As a team we did a fantastic job, communication onboard was really good. I am a bit disappointed because of course when you lead you want to go on leading and small mistakes happen but overall I’m really happy.”

Team Brunel eventually pipped them for the fourth spot with Team SCA’s all-women crew leaving Team Vestas Wind comfortably behind to take sixth.Charlie Enright and crew kept their rivals at bay and charged across the finish line in first place, by six seconds.

Enright gave his reaction to their successful opening round: “Surprised that we're able to do well? Not that much. We've had some good practice, the guys have been working really hard on manoeuvres, and we're happy with the win. We haven't done anything that counts for the overall trophy yet, but it's a confidence builder, it gives us the feeling that we can do well again."

Alicante in-port race results:
1. Team Alvimedica (Turkey/USA) 14:52:02 - 1pt
2. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 14:52:07 - 2pts
3. MAPFRE (Spain) 14:52:27 - 3pts
4. Team Brunel (The Netherlands) 14:52:48 - 4pts
5. Dongfeng Race Team (China) 14:53:14 - 5pts
6. Team SCA (Sweden) 14:53:51 - 6pts
7. Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 14:55:24 - 7pts