In 1984, Pedro Andrade started sailing Optimist dinghies because his mother thought the boats in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro were cute. When Pedro started winning local junior regattas, however, he decided to stick with it, sailing at the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club from 1984-87, then at the Clube Naval de Cascais.

During an Olympic campaign for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he was asked to sail on a Dragon and was paid for his time. Other jobs started rolling in. His experience now includes Optimist, 420, 470, 49er, match racing, 18 Skiff, Etchell, Dart, SB 20, Soto 40, TP 52, Extreme 40, Whisper 78, Lady B, and 147. In 2004, he was talking with Toni Tio in Cascais about Dragons when he was invited to join the Quantum team to learn about sail making and design. Pedro accepted the challenge.

For Pedro, the best reward is being part of the process. “I love winning Dragon events with sails I was involved in developing and testing,” he said. He gives his customers the same level of service and respect that he expects, and is always ready to help them create a winning program. “My customers can expect that I will always be available to service their sails and make sure they get the best product available.”

When Fernando Sallent was 10 years old, a friend of his father bought him an Optimist dinghy. From then on Fernando was hooked. As an adult, his first business venture was Technik Boats, a small Optimist shipyard, but it was the physics of sailing that really intrigued him. “I always had a passion for finding a way to make boats go faster,” he said.

That passion led him to La Industrial Velera Marsal, a local sailmaker who made all of his sails by hand. Fernando worked there learning the basics of sailmaking while also running Technick Boats. After taking a year off to serve in the military, he decided to leave Technick and joined Toni Tio Sail Loft. Toni Tio was only designing cruising sails at the time, so Fernando came on board to lead the One Design section of the company.

In 1996, Toni and Fernando visited the Quantum Annapolis loft, and in 2000 they joined the Quantum Sails team. Fernando continues to design One Design sails as he works to help his clients improve on the water. “I love seeing how sailors do better when the product is improved,” he said. “I love the fine tuning of boats and sails on the water.”

An accomplished sailor, Fernando also works as a coach for many teams. He coached the 470 women’s world, Olympic, and European champions in 1992 and the 470 women’s world champions in 1995. Since 2000, he has advised the Norwegian, Swedish, Swiss, and Spanish Olympic teams.

When Carles Rodriguez was four years old, his mother worked for a One Design boat company. She started taking him to races on the weekends, and it didn’t take long before Carlos started racing. When he was just 17 years old, the Catalonian Sailing Federation offered him a job, and he’s been sailing ever since.

A professional sailor since 1995, Carlos has an extensive resume, including experience on JV37 Comet, Open 60 Estrella Damm, TP52, X-35, J/80, IMX40, and Sinergia 40. His maxi racing boat experiences include Farr 92 El Baile, Frers 100 Syl, SW72 Kiboko, SW100 Alarife, A&R 100 Arrayan, Vitters 98 Aphrodite, GF105 Only Now, Noorsee 88 Ifalik, Wally 77 Barong, and many other classes.

Carlos started working at a Quantum Sails loft in1996. A well-known brand in Spain, Quantum Sails Spain goes beyond simply selling sails. Carlos not only spends almost every weekend racing in local and national events with Quantum customers, serving as skipper, tactician, and jib-spinnaker-mainsail trimmer, he also trims masts, finds crew members, provides certification optimization, and even services sails during races. At Quantum Sails Spain, Carlos works hard to make it a full-service, one-stop loft for all sailing needs.