Rafa Trujillo, Antonio “Ñeti” Cuervas-Mons and NicoLunven, crew members of the Spanish team in the VolvoOcean Race

Two newcomers to the Volvo Ocean Raceand a 32 years old “veteran” jointhe Spanish project in theoffshore race that will start next October from Alicante.The team led by Iker Martínez and XabiFernández confirmed this Monday that Spaniards Rafa Trujillo and Antonio “Ñeti” Cuervas-Mons and French Nicolas Lunven will be, respectively, trimmer/driver, bowman and navigator of the newSpanish boat.

Third Volvo Ocean Race for Cuervas-Mons

This will be the third Volvo Ocean Racefor Spaniard Antonio “Ñeti” Cuervas-Mons (32). Itwill therefore be his third timeas well in the Spanish team, after competing inthe 2008-2009 and2011-2012 editions.

The sailor from Santander acknowledgesthat this is “a big stepforward in my career,” especially for the fact that “until now I was one of the under 30 crew members and thatopened me the doors to enter the race. Once you are over 30 I thinkis more complicated to be onboard becausethe options to find sailors are much wider, andto be here, for me it means that my previous experience is valued and I’m really proud of it.”

His teammate Xabi Fernández, highlightsthat “heis a bowmanwith a lot of experience and forus it’s a relief to know that things will go well. It gives us alot of confidence.”

A new change for “Ñeti”this year is that his responsibilitiesgo far beyond just sailing, as Xabi pointed out: “Besides being a key player in the team, he is also in charge of the mast and everything that “goes up”. He will train theunder 30 crew members and, as well, hiswork will be to have the crew as trained as possible.”

Round theworld baptism for Lunven and Trujillo

Rafa Trujillo (38), from Cádiz, as well as French Nicolas Lunven(31) will debut in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Trujillo has competed four times in the Olympic Games – he wassilver in Athens 2004 and Finn world champion- andalso competed in the America’s Cup withthe Italian team +39 as mainsail trimmer. Trujilloconfirms he is “very excited. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but with the Olympic calendar, the America’s Cup… Andat last the time has come. I will be the driver in one of the watches, trimmer and, like everything in this race, a bit of everything.”

“We’ve known him for 20years,” said Xabi Fernández. “We know he is a hard workingperson, very strong and talented.We have no doubt that he will be one of the driverswho will contribute a lot tothis boat.”

On the other hand, “Nico”Lunven is a well-known French sailor. Hehas several Atlantic crossings under his belt; he also wonthe Solitaire duFigaro in 2009 anda podium in 2012, secondin the Sydney-Hobart, bronze in theFastnet Race onseveral occasions…

After seven years in the Figaro circuit,Lunven joins theSpanish team. For him this is “a big challenge, not only in sporting terms but also personally; nice and different. As well, I’m very happy to do so with the Spanish team, which makesit even more interesting since it’s a culture different from mine. For me everything is new and I have to be focused on our team, trying to give the best of myself and not wastingtime thinking about other things,”said from the team’s base in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra).

For Xabi, Lunven “is a very young sailor and a very talented navigator. This edition we will have to push even harder because of thefact that we are sailing on one-designboats and perhaps the navigator’s profile changes a little bit.Besides ‘Nico’ beingthe ultimate responsible for the navigation,he is also another driver, another trimmer… and on critical moments he can give a hand ondeck, in my opinion, he ismore than a traditional navigator.”