Team Aspat

Team ASPAT was founded in November 2023 and made its debut at the 5th leg of the J70 Türkiye Trophy in Bodrum. The team consists of 6 members, with the youngest being 17-year-old Deniz Saraç and the oldest 64-year-old Mehmet Okay. In essence, it is a “fathers and sons” team: Mehmet Okay, one of the partners of Ant Yapı, and his son Ahmet; Hakan Saraç, head of architecture at Ant Yapı, and his son Deniz; along with former Olympic national sailor Ali Kemal Tüfekçi as tactician, and Andreas Rangavis.

Although newly formed, the team members have been involved in sailing across various platforms for many years. Ali Kemal Tüfekçi (“Sensei”) is a former Olympic sailor who represented Türkiye in the Laser and Finn classes at the 2000 and 2008 Olympics. Similarly, Andreas Rangavis has been active in sailing since 1990 and is also a former national athlete. The youngest member, Deniz Saraç, has been actively sailing since the age of 8 and is a licensed ILCA6 A Team athlete of Istanbul Sailing Club. Ahmet Okay was involved in Optimist and Laser classes at Fenerbahçe Sailing Club during his childhood. Hakan Saraç started sailing through his passion for the sea and shares the sport with his son as an amateur sailor. Team captain Mehmet Okay has also been closely involved with the sea and sailing throughout his life, participating in various sailing disciplines at an amateur level. Despite coming from different disciplines, the team creates strong synergy within Team ASPAT, united by their shared passion for the sea and sailing in an amateur spirit. Due to their busy professional lives, the team can only come together from race to race and currently participates mainly in J70 races held at Anthaven, where they also serve as hosts.