A MAPFRE team featuring former Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez and sailing in the team’s old Volvo Open 70 are poised to begin their attempt at a new record for the Christopher Columbus 'Discovery of the Americas' Route.
María Muiña/Fase Gráfica
The MAPRE challenge, which is being spearheaded by Pedro Campos, will start the record attempt from Palos de la Frontera in Huelva, Spain and the route will take them past the Canary Islands and on to San Salvador in the Bahamas.
The 35-year-old Spanish sailor with two Olympic medals will sail with many members of his previous team, including Pablo Arrarte, Ñeti Cuevas-Mons, Pepe Ribes and former Media Crew Member Diego Fructuoso.
Also among the crew are Fernando Echávarri, who like Iker is an Olympic gold medalist, fellow Spaniards Marcos Iglesias, Gabri de Llano, Juan Pinacho, Fernando R. Rivero, Miguel Lago and Britain's Simon Fisher. Lago, now 54, will try for the record 28 years after his first attempt at this challenge.
Volvo Ocean Race’s Pedro Freitas is part of the team as well, giving the onboard reporter experience a real try.
After sailing a preliminary 567 nm from Sanxenxo to Palos de la Frontera, making stops in Bayona, Lisbon and Cadiz along the way, the team are in Cadiz, where they are waiting for optimum weather conditions to attempt the record. Now in a ‘yellow code’, they are likely to start within the next 48 hours.
The voyage will take the team 3,150 nm across the Tropic of Cancer, to the island of Guanahaní, founded as San Salvador by Columbus, where the clock will be stopped.
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