Hippocampus Edição 37

Club Commodores’ Dinner
the CNC during the last twelve years. And,
for that, nothing better than the words, on
behalf of all the members and members
of the club, spoken by Gonçalo Esteves,
elected in 2014 as the 14th President of
the CNCascais, at the remarkable dinner
that marked the passage of testimony to
José Sotto Mayor Matoso.
“I remember it as if it were today, the
first time I was in Miguel Horta e Costa’s
office in the Portugal Telecom Building
on Av. Fontes Pereira de Melo, right in
the heart of Lisbon. With the support of
the then Commodore, Patrick Monteiro
de Barros, we went to visit him, Francisco
Geraldes and myself, to propose
to PT to become a sponsor of the first
editions of the Quebra-Mar/Chrysler
Trophy, currently Cascais Vela. I was
quite nervous because, although at the
time he was not exactly a first-timer in
these wanderings, Miguel was already,
for me, the reference among the CEO’s
in Portugal.
From that day until today, much has
been done and achieved together. Over
the years, we have had the ability to enter
into and develop a deep friendship. We
have been together in countless situations
and places, from Hong Kong to São
Paulo, and in many other places - and
those who know him well know that he
is always the same, no matter with whom
he meets or encounters, and always with
a smile on his face.
I have been in this club since I was
very young, and it never crossed my
mind to become President of Clube
Naval de Cascais. When my time came,
almost overnight, to replace José Sotto
Mayor Matoso after his second term,
I was quite low on confidence to take
his place. There were a few other names
that I considered to be the best option
for our club. I called him up and said:
‘Gonçalo: of those three names you just
mentioned to me, you are by far the one
I think the next President should be, and
I want to tell you right now, and also
that I will refer you to the direction I
support you 100%’.
Thank you, Miguel, from the bottom
of my heart: I was certainly convinced
that you would support one of the other
options. Your confidence in me was the
ultimate boost you needed to accept
being the 14th President of this prestigious
club. Thank you, Miguel, thank
you for your support throughout my six
years as Vice-President, and thank you
for your support, availability and friendship
during these six years as President
As I mentioned before, our club, today,
is not the club of the past, and the way we
have been raising the bar has only been
possible, without any doubt, with the
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