SSL Team PUR – By Sailors for Sailors

THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP... IN SAILING

PAN-AMERICAN QUALIFIERS | 12-15 Nov 2026 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

FINALS | 15 Nov - 13 Dec 2026 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Events

Upcoming

PAN-AMERICAN QUALIFIERS

G3 - Race 1

14:00

12 November 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

MEX

PUR

ESA

Results

Upcoming

PAN-AMERICAN QUALIFIERS

G3 - Race 2

12:30

13 November 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

MEX

PUR

ESA

Results

Upcoming

PAN-AMERICAN QUALIFIERS

G3 - Race 3

11:00

14 November 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

MEX

PUR

ESA

Results

Upcoming

PAN-AMERICAN QUALIFIERS

G3 - Race 4

14:00

15 November 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

MEX

PUR

ESA

Results

See All Races

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LOS BORICUAS

NO EXCUSES

The sea and o

Puerto Rico has a mix of different cultures that have led to many different traditions. Sailing has been a way of transportation since even the discovery of our island. A mix of different ages, experiences, and styles can lead to a diverse range of expectations. Even though our island might be small, our hearts and passion for this sport have no borders. Our SSL team includes sailors who have had experience from Olympic to youth levels. Coming together as one and working as a team will be important as some have never been a part of something so big and/or a boat of such magnitude and technicality. This will be a new motivation for our youth sailors and perhaps can ignite the spark our sport needs.

Statistics

THE COUNTRY

10000 nautical passionate
200 sailors
3 Sailing Clubs
5 Sailing Schools
1000 km of seacoast

ACHIEVEMENTS

8th place at the Olympic Games 2004
8-time Olympian in sailing
8 Olympic athletes
6 Pan American Game medals

Ssl ranking

SSL best ranked woman: 273
SSL best ranked man: 18
SSL nations ranking:

MAIN EVENTS

ISAF Annual Reunion San Juan
2010 Central and Caribbean Games
2010 Central and Caribbean Games

In order to have the success we will need to sail as one. No matter the size of the boat, the size of our island, sailing for one team will help us to motivate each other and bring out the best in us.

The captain

EFRAIN FRAITO LUGO

Born in Ponce, PR. Sailmaker and rigger by profession. Over 25 years of experience on J/24, Melges 24 & 32, IC24 among others. Has been a helmsman, trimmer, tactician & bowman. Some of his recent events have been CAC Games, South Americas, Copa Mexico, St. Thomas International Regatta, Antigua Sailing Week, Hamilton Island Race in Australia, St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, and J/24 East Coast Championship and Midwinters.

THE LEADERS

GERARDO FERNÁNDEZ

Born and raised in San Juan, PR. Educated with a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. Sailed in Optimist, Laser, and served as a sailing instructor for 10 years. During his youth, Gerardo participated in events such as Miami Orange Bowl Regatta, CORK Ontario Canada, among others. As an adult, he sailed 470 at Miami OCR and ISAF World in Perth, Australia. He currently competes as jib/spinnaker trimmer in the IC24.

THE YOUTH FACTOR

The number of youth sailors in Puerto Rico has been increasing throughout the years. As new sailing schools emerge and more coaches are available. The sailors have found their motivation to improve every single day and learn from our best sailors on land and on the water.

Confirmed Athletes

Captain | 10

Tactician | 5

Main Trimmer | 7

Trimmer | 4

Bow | 1

Floater | 23

Pit | 3

Mid Bow | 12

Grinder | 6

Trimmer | 2

TBD | TBD

Potential Team Position

1 BOW Pablo Mendez	2 MID-BOW Gretchen Ortiz
3 PIT Jose Arturo Diaz	4 GRINDER Melvin Gonzalez
5 TRIMMER Agustin Lazaro	6 TRIMMER Gerardo Fernández
7 MAIN TRIMMER Enrique Figueroa	8 HELMS
9 TACTICIAN Efrain Lugo	10 CAPTAIN Efrain Lugo
11 FLOATER Sebastian Medina

BOW

Pablo Mendez

MID-BOW

Gretchen Ortiz

PIT

Jose Arturo Diaz

GRINDER

Melvin Gonzalez

TRIMMER

Agustin Lazaro

TRIMMER

Gerardo Fernández

MAIN TRIMMER

Enrique Figueroa

HELMS

TACTICIAN

Efrain Lugo

CAPTAIN

Efrain Lugo

FLOATER

Sebastian Medina

SQUAD

Efrain Lugo	Enrique Figueroa
Agustin Lazaro	Pablo Mendez
Sebastian Medina	Jose Arturo Diaz
Gretchen Ortiz	Melvin Gonzalez
Gerardo Fernández	Marco Teixidor
Raul Rios