Extreme Sailing Series - Wildcard entry for ROFF Cascais Sailing Team

by Extreme Sailing Series on 29 May 2013 The Extreme Sailing Series ‘Stadium Style’ race courses at the Istanbul and Porto Acts will have a fresh complexion as ROFF Cascais Sailing Team becomes the second Youth America’s Cup team to announce its participation in as many weeks alongside Team Tilt. The participation of the Portuguese squad, sponsored by ROFF, the Municipality of Cascais and the Municipality of Lisbon, will boost the fleet to nine boats for the Act in Istanbul starting on 20 June, with a home nation invitational team to be announced next week.

Skipper António Mello and his crew first stepped on board a catamaran earlier this year and quickly made a considerable impression when they qualified to compete in September’s Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. Mello admitted their biggest challenge would be getting used to the tight ‘Stadium Style’ racecourse synonymous with the Extreme 40 racing. 'We will take each event one at a time and try to improve as much as we can in the tight racing with a lot of boats. It is a very competitive class, with the best sailors from around the world. Our main goal is to feel comfortable in racing multihulls. The Extreme Sailing Series will be very good training for us and we will learn a lot with the most experienced multihull sailors.'

Mello is joined by his regular all Portuguese ROFF Cascais Sailing Team crew including the man in the driving seat, Bernardo Freitas, who represented Portugal in the 49er Skiff at the London 2012 Olympic Games finishing an impressive eighth place. João Mello will be the teams mainsail trimmer, Ricardo Schedel on the headsail, João Matos Rosa on the bow while both Paulo Manso and Manuel Cunha will act as reserve crew.

The Act in Istanbul takes place from the 20-23 June where the fleet will race from the banks of Istanbul’s old town, before entering the second half of the 2013 Series and heading to Porto, the most compact stadium racecourse the fleet have ever sailed on from the 25-28 July.

ROFF Cascais Sailing Team crew list

Position / Crew member

Skipper/Tactician: António Mello
Helmsman: Bernardo Freitas
Mainsail trim: João Mello
Headsail trim: Ricardo Schedel
Bowman: João Matos Rosa
Reserve crew: Paulo Manso and Manuel Extreme Sailing Series website