Diogo Cayolla said after his announcement “I am looking forward to taking the helm of our VO65 “Racing for the Planet” and look forward to racing in our team owners home event. The team has a competitive and successful reputation, which I look forward to trying to build upon even further.”

A Porto native, Diogo brings experience to the team with a long list of inshore and offshore racing accolades. He is considered one of Portugal’s elite sailors and has competed at the Olympics on three occasions in three different classes.

He holds multiple offshore records including the prestigious Rolex Middle Sea Race monohull record and has three Maxi Yacht Rolex Cups to his name.

Diogo’s first challenge in charge of the team that won The Ocean Race Europe 2021  is racing in the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy which takes place on their home waters of Cascais in early July.

The Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team took overall victory in the inaugural event in 2020 and again in the 2021 edition. In 2022 the Cascais-based team won the VO65 class.

Organised in conjunction with Clube Naval de Cascais, the sustainability-focused regatta, established in 2020 to help raise funds for marine conservation, was recently recognised by UNESCO as an official Ocean Decade event.

The 7th of July will see the first of three days of racing across six classes in the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy.

The full crew joining Cayolla onboard for the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy will be announced shortly.