VOR team Mapfre with New Zealand America's Cup winner Blair Tuke on board.
Photo: Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race
Peter Burling, New Zealand's America's Cup winning helmsman and ETNZ cyclor Carlo Huisman have joined Team Brunel for the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts in October. Kiwi teammate Blair Tuke had already signed with the Spanish Mapfre Team. The pair won the gold medal in the 49er class at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tuke will be joined on board Mapfre by Kyle Langford, the wing trimmer from Oracle Team USA. And Simeon Tienpont, who was a grinder on Oracle's 2013 America's Cup winner, is the skipper of his own VOR team, Akzo Nobel. The Volvo Ocean Race is a round the world race with stopovers. It starts from Alicante, Spain in October 2017 and finishes eight months later in The Hague.
America's Cup winning helmsman Peter Burling (right) with Ian Budgen at Fastnet Rock on board 115 foot Nikata
America's Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist Blair Tuke will share helming duties on board Mapfre.
Blair Tuke will be on board Mapfre with skipper Xabi Fernandez. Like Tuke, Fernandez has Olympic gold and silver medals in the 49er - gold in Athens in 2004 and silver in Beijing in 2008. Tuke got his silver in London in 2012 and took gold in Rio in 2016.
Team New Zealand cyclor Carlo Huisman
ETNZ cyclor Dutchman Carlo Huisman will join Peter Burling on board Team Brunel.
Kyle Langford will be on board Mapfre with Blair Tuke
Australian Kyle Langford was Oracle's wing trimmer for their comeback in the 2013 America's Cup and was in the same role in 2013. He is a veteran of the World Match Racing Circuit and an avid Moth sailor. Kyle will be on board Mapfre with his America's Cup rival, Kiwi Blair Tuke.
Two-time America's Cup winner Simeon Tienpont, skipper of Akzo Nobel
Another America's Cup winner, Dutchman Simeon Tienpont, is the skipper of Team Akzo Nobel. A two-time America's Cup winner, Simeon was a grinder on Oracle's winning AC72 in the 2013 America's Cup. Simeon raced on board ABN Amro in the 2005-06 VOR.