Soto 40 World Championship - Interview with Hugo Rocha

by Soto 40 Media on 10 Jul 2014 Soto 40 World Championship - Hugo Rocha sails in J80, Melges 32, Melges 34, among other boats. In the Olympic Games of 1996 his team with Nuno Barreto achieved the bronze medal in 470 for Portugal. Now they are both competing in the Soto 40 Worlds, sailing onboard Bigamist, Nuno as Trimmer and Hugo as tactician: 'I know Nuno since a long time ago, 23 years. We started 20 years ago in 470 and I sail onboard Bigamist since seven years ago. We started with TP and three years ago we begun to sail in Soto 40. We have a fun team, united and professional', explains Hugo.

Regarding his first impressions about the Soto 40 World Championship, he pointed out: 'Yesterday was good, in the first race we finished fifth, we had problems in the start and in the second race we started well and we won. It’s going to be a quite long week and also hard, we have to be calm and go step by step'.

'In terms of results, I don’t want to think that much. I like to sail well, no matter the results. The important thing for me is to sail well, make good starts and try to avoid tactical errors. The results, if we get a third position, it’s good, if we get a first place, great', says Bigamist’ tactician.

To finish the interview, Hugo shared with us his opinion about the event that is being held in Valencia: 'this is an event where we have more Soto 40s, I think this is a good Class. We need more quantity, quality we have a lot. It would be fantastic to watch 15 boats but I think that’s a job that needs to be done in the next years, try to increase the number of boats because the level is awesome. What I like most about the Soto 40 is that this is a one-design boat. The fun is to sail in real time, for a tactician it’s hard but fun'.

The Soto 40 World Championship is being held at the Marina Real Juan Carlos I in Valencia (Spain). The event exclusive website is here.