The santanderino Pablo Arrarte will be one of the chief of guard of the Mapfre.

Following the announcement of Xabi Fernández as the pattern of the "MAPHRE" in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, it is confirmed that the cantabre Pablo Arrarte is incorporated into the ranks of the Spanish team. With three turns to the world behind its back, Arrarte is certainly one of the most experienced guard heads in the fleet and is considered one of the best rods, so their presence on board the "MAPHRE" will add up an important dose of experience.

"On board the" MAPHRE "I will be one of the two guard heads. It is a function that is to be responsible for everything that goes on deck during my guard, to ensure the safety of the crew and to have the ship go as quickly as possible at all times," explains the Cantabrian flyer.

At the age of 36, Pablo Arararte has an important trajectory in ocean sailing. In the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, the song debuted on board the "Blue Telefonica" as one of the tripunants under 30 and was one of the rods of the "Telefonica" in 2011-12, while in the last edition he was head of the Dutch guard "Brunel."

But the sports curriculum of the santanderino does not end in the Volvo Ocean Race. Over the last few years, Arrarte has won important wins as in the last two editions of the prestigious Australian race Rolex Sidney-Hobart on board the "Comanche" in 2015 and the "Perpetual Loyal" in 2016, in which he made history setting a new record by investing 1 day, 13 hours and 31 minutes to complete the tour. It also has the North Atlantic (Este- West) record between New York (USA) and Lizzard (UK), a challenge it held in July 2016 on board the "Comanche."

Now, Paul already thinks of his new challenge on board the "MAPHRE" and is clear about the main objective as he says: "For me this will be my fourth round of the world and the only goal is to win. We know that it is very difficult because almost all the teams are going to go with that same goal, so we must be a little conservative in the sense of not breaking too many things along the race, being quite regular, trying not to have any puncture and so, at the end of the return, being able to be up."

In March, first training
With the ship on and off the shipyard in Lisbon, the next steps of the "MAPHRE" will be to continue to complete the crew and start with the on-board training to get to the exit as best prepared as possible.

"In March we started a training session with the aim of completing the crew, testing the entire team and, above all, drawing numbers to the ship in order to be able to be on the exit of Alicante with options and knowing the ship to perfection," explains Arrarte and adds: "In this return to the world, as in the previous one, all ships are exactly the same, so you know that you have the same tool as the rest of the equipment and that other factors that make the difference should be sought. Thanks to MAPHRE we will have all necessary means both material and human."

The "Mapfre Team" confirms Xabi Fernández as a patron in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18

The Basque pattern (Ibarra, 19 / 10 / 1976) is one of the most internationally recognized Spanish regatists after having completed a spectacular palmaris along its successful sports career

The "Mapfre" Regatas Team announced this 17 February 2017 one of the most expected news in recent weeks: Xabi Fernández will be the patron of the Spanish team for the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, which will be released on October 22 of Alicante. Listed from the beginning of his career to his inseparable Iker Martínez, Xabi has achieved together with his' alter ego 'two Olympic medals (gold in Athens 2004 and silver in Beijing 2008) and has completed five laps to the World in race: four editions of the Volvo Ocean Race (Movistar 2005-06, Blue Telefonica 2008-09, Telefónica 2011-12 and MAPHRE 2014-15) and an edition of the Barcelona World Race (2010-11). In addition, Xabi is the Spanish regatist who has best established in the last editions of the Copa América, defending the colors of the Italian Rossa Moon in the last edition and sailing for the English Land Rover BAR in the current edition under the orders of Ben Ainslie. With Iker Martínez's decision to concentrate on other professional projects, Xabi Fernández, with whom he shared the master's position in 2014-15, remains the visible head of the MAPHRE in an edition that both personally and collectively reaches them at an appropriate time. Both Xabi and his crew, which will be announced gradually in the coming days, come with a bagage and an experience that allows them to aspire to everything, even to fight to win what would be their first title in the historic race.