After a first offshore test of nearly 3,000 miles, Vestas 11th Hour Racing arrived in Newport, Rhode Island at around 1200 UTC on Friday.
The boat, which left the Boatyard facility in Lisbon, Portugal on Wednesday 19 April, completed its transatlantic crossing in front of a large, welcoming crowd, withstanding the fog and rain in Newport Harbour to see their heroes return to the States.
© Rich Edwards/Volvo Ocean Race
“We’ve got a great group and it’s exciting to be back on the water,” said co-founder and team director, Mark Towill.
It marks a couple of major landmarks for the team in their 2017-18 race preparations – the first real sailing test of their boat, which underwent a one million euro refit at the Boatyard after the 2014-15 edition, and an invaluable opportunity to test out potential crewmembers.
The team will now remain in skipper Charlie Enright’s home town before a return transatlantic in just over a fortnight, where, according to the skipper, they’ll be looking to push the boat a little harder to replicate race mode conditions.
Exciting times – 176 days to go!
