Team Aspat

Team ASPAT was founded in November 2023 and made its debut at the J70 Turkey Trophy 5th leg in Bodrum. The team consists of six members, ranging in age from 17 (Deniz Saraç) to 64 (Mehmet Okay). In a way, it can be described as a fathers-and-sons team: Mehmet Okay, co-owner of Ant Yapı, and his son Ahmet; Hakan Saraç, director of the Ant Yapı architectural office, and his son Deniz; along with former Olympic sailors Ali Kemal Tüfekçi and Andreas Rangavis as tacticians. It is a team that competes with an amateur spirit.

Although newly formed, the team members have long been involved in sailing across different platforms. Ali Kemal Tüfekçi (Sensei) represented Turkey in the Laser and Finn classes at the 2000 and 2008 Olympics as a former Olympic sailor. Similarly, Andreas Rangavis has been sailing since 1990 and is also a former national sailor. The youngest member, Deniz Saraç, has been actively sailing since the age of 8 and is a licensed ILCA6 A Team sailor at Istanbul Sailing Club. Ahmet Okay practiced Optimist and Laser sailing during his youth at Fenerbahçe Sailing Club. Hakan Saraç, together with his son, started sailing out of passion and is an amateur sailor. Team captain Mehmet Okay has spent his life around the sea and sailing, engaging in various sailing disciplines as an amateur. The diverse backgrounds, passion for the sea, and amateur spirit of the team members create a strong synergy within Team ASPAT. Due to their busy work schedules, the team can only gather from race to race and currently participates only in J70 races hosted at Anthaven.