Swipely’s Davis takes plunge for Team Alvimedica

ANGUS DAVIS is seen taking the plunge from the Team Alvimedica sailboat on Jan. 3 off the coast of Abu Dhabi. He won the
ANGUS DAVIS is seen taking the plunge from the Team Alvimedica sailboat on Jan. 3 off the coast of Abu Dhabi. He won the "jump seat." The team is participating in the Volvo Ocean race, which comes to Newport in May. / COURTESY TEAM ALVIMEDICA

A trip to Abu Dhabi to cheer his friend on during the Volvo Ocean Race ended with Angus Davis jumping off the sailboat into the Persian Gulf in a pair of American Flag pants.
Davis, who went with his wife Joanna on the trip, won a charity auction for the jump seat spot on Jan. 3.
“I got to be the lucky guy who gets to be on the boat for the start … It wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that cold. It wasn’t that different from Narragansett Bay in the summertime. I was just thrilled to have a chance to be on board,” said Davis, who, when in Rhode Island, is the the CEO of Providence-based Swipely, which helps merchants track and understand customer data through a cloud-based platform.
His attire prompted humorous talk from the British commentators, who said, “An American chap. I would never have guessed.”
Davis, who grew up along the route of the famed Fourth of July parade in Bristol, said that’s where he got the inspiration for his outfit.
He said he gave a “weak attempt at a dive,” describing it as more of a “belly flop.”
“They were generous in their commentary of my efforts,” Davis, 36, said. In fact, it was described “as the best that we’ve seen” and “fantastic.”
Davis, who learned to sail as a child, described the Volvo race as “like the World Cup of sailing.”
The nine-month race around the world features seven teams; it started in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 4 and ends in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27. It comes to Newport from May 5-17, its only North American stop.
Davis said the race sails west to east, with stopovers in 11 different ports. He said he and his wife wanted to visit one of the stopover cities to cheer on his friend, Charlie Enright, of Bristol, the skipper of Team Alvimedica, so they went to Abu Dhabi.

After winning the charity auction, Davis was able to spend four hours sailing with the team. They gave him an orange Team Alvimedica shirt to wear with the American Flag pants for the jump.

Davis described his four-hour journey as a “brief drop in the bucket” compared with what the sailors endure – they left Abu Dhabi for Sanya, China, a 25-day trip.

Davis is excited to catch up with the team when it lands in Newport. He said this will be the first time the race stops in Newport, as it previously has only gone to larger cities. A “village,” which will be open to the public, will be set up at Fort Adams for the race; it will feature 100 containers large enough to serve as buildings in 10 different pavilions that will have interactive exhibits.
“I feel like I’ve had an advance preview of what we’re in for in Newport,” Davis said.
Davis said Enright, at 30, is the youngest skipper of the teams in the race.
“We’re all just incredibly proud of him. It’s hard to imagine living on freeze-dried foods for weeks at a time in the middle of nowhere,” Davis said.
Team Alvimedica has decided to support charities for heart health in each of the cities where it stops. Alvimedica is a European-based medical devices company. More than $11,000 was raised for the Zayed Giving Initiative’s Mobile Heart Clinic program in the United Arab Emirates. Davis declined to reveal how much he donated to win the jump seat.
“For us it really wasn’t about the money as it was an opportunity to do something that was supporting our hometown team,” Davis said.

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A video of Davis jumping can be seen HERE.

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