Team Alvimedica Offers Unique “Jump Seat” Experience to Benefit Cardiac Charities Around the World
Cape Town, South Africa, October 30, 2014
Bidding is now open for the chance to start each leg of the Volvo Ocean Race with Team Alvimedica before jumping overboard to benefit heart charities at each stopover port of the race around the world.
Starting today, sailing fans have the chance to bid for a unique “Jump Seat” experience at each of the leg starts. The Jump Seat is on auction to the highest bidder beginning with the Leg Two start from Cape Town on November 19. The bidder’s funds will benefit the Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa, the local NGO committed to improving quality of care for children with congenital and acquired heart diseases. Bids can be placed on the team’s web site www.teamalvimedica.com/auction.
“As part of our commitment to pioneering care in the field of cardiology, we will support local cardiac health charities by auctioning the Team Alvimedica Jump Seat experience at each leg departure around the world,” said Dr. Cem Bozkurt, CEO of Alvimedica, the global medical devices company that is the Team’s owner. “All of the proceeds from the auction will benefit a locally designated heart charity. It is our hope that this initiative will be one small step toward supporting care for heart health in each of the stopover communities of the Volvo Ocean Race worldwide.
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. In Cape Town, the fleet sets out on a 6,125 nautical-mile leg to Abu Dhabi in the Middle East. The fleet will sail in Table Bay before heading offshore. Each of the seven Volvo Ocean Race teams has a Jump Seat. The Jump Seat riders experience the exhilarating moments of the start before jumping overboard at a safe moment in the race. The “Jumpers” are then retrieved by a tender boat and brought safely back to shore.
“While often this experience is reserved for sponsors or VIPs, we decided it would be a win-win to open this up to all sailing fans for a cause close to our hearts – cardiac health,” Dr. Bozkurt said.
Alvimedica launched the initiative at the start of the race in Alicante, Spain on October 11 when Dr. Bozkurt jumped in the name of heart health. Alvimedica donated 10,000 Euro to Spain’s Menudos Corazones Foundation, the national children’s heart charity, to kick-start the program. Now this unique experience of the “Jump Seat” is available to the highest bidder, with all of the bid proceeds going to heart charities at each stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Sailing fans also have the chance to bid on bringing their own team of five to seven 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.
For the details of this exciting auction opportunity, visit the team web site at www.teamalvimedica.com/auction. Bids can be placed starting today.
Team Alvimedica is the youngest entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015, the world’s toughest and longest sporting event. The crew is led by American skipper Charlie Enright, age 30. Alvimedica, the European based medical devices company, is the team’s owner. Founded in 2007, Alvimedica is a fast growing challenger in the global field of interventional cardiology, committed to developing minimally-invasive technologies. This is the team’s first entry in the extremely challenging 39,000-mile race that started October 11, 2014 from Alicante, Spain and features stopovers in 11 ports around the world.
Follow Team Alvimedica on:
www.teamalvimedica.com
www.facebook.com/TeamAlvimedica
www.volvooceanrace.com
Please register in the media section at media.teamalvimedica.com for high-resolution photos and video content for editorial use.
For more information:
Jane Eagleson
Team Alvimedica
Head of Communication
jane.eagleson@teamalvimedica.com
For your convenience, call any of these numbers:
USA: + 1 401 682 0454
Spain: +34 668 103 729
UK: +44 740 883 5760
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