The 27-year old sailor from New Zealand will be one of the trimmers/helmsmen in the crew led by Basque skipper Xabi Fernández. Tuke will join the team in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) next week.
The name of the second under-30 sailor to join MAPFRE has been confirmed, as the team prepare for their challenge to win the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the round-the-world race, which leaves from Alicante on 22nd October. New-Zealand sailor Blair Tuke will join the crew, skippered by Xabi Fernández, next week.
Following his recent victory in the America’s Cup in Bermuda, Tuke is due to arrive in Spain next week to join the rest of the Spanish team at their base in Sanxenxo, in the Rías Baixas region of Galicia.
Coincidentally Xabi and Blair share a number of similarities in their sporting careers. Both have victories in Olympic sailing. Xabi’s class has always been the 49er, where Tuke also has a gold and silver medal, as well as various world championships to his name.
With MAPFRE currently out of the water, taking a rest ahead of the next training session with the VO65, Xabi Fernández explained how the conversations with the new recruit for the Spanish team began,
“We met Blair in 2010, when we raced against Peter Burling and Blair in the last World Championships we participated in. Then, in 2012, when we were in Auckland with the Volvo Ocean Race, we trained with them in a 49er on our rest days preparing for the London Olympic Games. They gave us use of a boat. In the following edition of the round-the-world-race with MAPFRE in 2015, he joined us, sailing in a ProAm, and on the start day he was our ‘jumper’ [guest on board for the round-the-buoys sail of the leg start. Before the fleet sets off, the person in question ‘jumps’ off the boat ] and he told us then that he wanted to take part in the ‘Volvo,” the skipper explained.
“In Bermuda, during the America’s Cup, we began to talk about this edition. Blair is a really exciting sailor for the team. Nobody can doubt his talent, and I am absolutely convinced that he will be a really strong addition to the team as trimmer and helmsman,” he added.
An Olympic gold in 2016. Winner of the America’s Cup in 2017. A future winner of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2018? It is certainly the intention.
As the MAPFRE skipper himself points out, Blair Tuke “in the last few years has become hugely respected on the world stage.”
It is no coincidence that in such a short period of time he has won an Olympic gold, the America’s Cup and will now fight for victory in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Tuke has vouched for a team and competition that he has always been attracted to.
“Racing in a Volvo Ocean Race edition has been a long held ambition. Growing up watching Kiwi legends like Sir Peter Blake and Mike Sanderson have great success in round the world racing has inspired me and I’m super excited about joining the team at MAPFRE.”
“There is a lot of experience and talent on board MAPFRE. I am privileged to have the opportunity to broaden my sailing skills while bringing my recent Olympic and America’s Cup experience to the team.”
Pedro Campos, CEO of the team, said: “It is excellent news that Blair has joined us; there is no doubt that he is one of the great names of our sport at the moment. The fact that he has accepted our invitation to join the team makes us proud and demonstrates the international prestige that MAPFRE has acquired. If we win this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, Blair would be the first sailor in history to get the triple crown: Olympic gold medal, America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race, which would be an amazing achievement for Blair and our team.”
