The Santander-born sailor faces his fourth round-the-world race, and will be one of the watch captains for the Spanish team
Following the announcement of Xabi Fernández as skipper for “MAPFRE” in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the Spanish team has confirmed the incorporation of Cantabrian sailor Pablo Arrarte.
With three round-the-world races already under his belt, Arrarte is one of the most experienced watch captains in the fleet, and also considered one of the best helmsmen. As such, his presence on board “MAPFRE” brings them valuable experience.
“On “MAPFRE” I will be one of the watch captains. It is a role which involves taking responsibility for everything that is happening on deck during my watch, looking out for the safety of the crew, and ensuring that the boat is sailing as fast as possible at all times,” explains the round-the-world sailor from Cantabria.
At 36, Pablo Arrarte has already clocked up a great deal of experience in offshore sailing. In the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, he made his debut onboard “Telefónica Azul” as one of the under 30 crew members, and was also one of the helmsmen for “Telefónica” in 2011-12. In the last edition of the race he was watch captain for the Dutch team “Brunel”.
However, his sporting curriculum stretches further still. In the last few years, Arrarte has gained important victories in the last two editions of the prestigious Australian regatta, the Rolex Sidney-Hobart, on board “Comanche” in 2015, and with “Perpetual Loyal” in 2016; an edition where they made history, setting a new record for the route in 1 day, 13 hours and 31 minutes. He was also part of the North Atlantic record (East-West) between New York (USA) and Lizzard (UK), in 2016 on board “Comanche”.
Pablo is now focussed on this new challenge with “MAPFRE” and is very clear about his main goal, as he explained,
“This will be my fourth round-the-world race, and the only aim is to win. We know it is extremely difficult, because nearly all the teams set off with the same goal in mind, so we have to be quite conservative, take care not to break anything during the race, and stay as consistent as possible in our results, trying not to have any major setbacks so that by the end of the race we can come out on top”.
Training in March
The boat is ready and out of the boatyard in Lisbon, and the next step for “MAPFRE” is to complete the crew list, and to begin training on board, so the team are fully-prepared at the start line.
“In March we will begin our training sessions, with the aim of completing the crew, to test the team, and especially fine tune and really get to know the boat, so it is ready and has a good chance of victory when we take the start line in Alicante,” explained Arrarte, adding, “In this round the world race, like the last edition, all the boats are exactly the same, which means we all have the same tools as the other teams, and have to find other ways to make a difference. Thanks to MAPFRE we will have all the resources necessary, both where our team are concerned and our material”.
