Christian Scherrer I Sailing Consulting Management

Christian Scherrer

Sailor, Coach, Manager and Speaker

Like many international sailing professionals, as a boy Christian Scherrer learnt to sail in an Optimist. After an apprenticeship as a junior clerk in a business school, at 21 he was discovered by Pierre Fehlmann, and spent his first season as a professional sailor on the Maxi Yacht Merit. At about the same time he began his training as a sailmaker at North Sails in England.

After two seasons of Maxi World Cup racing, he joined the 1993/94 Whitbread Round the World crew as watch captain. More international offshore regattas followed, including sailing with the French Corum Sailing Team and on the Maxi One-Design Yachts.

In 1994, in his first America’s Cup campaign, Christian worked for oneAustralia in San Diego. Since then he has competed in four America’s Cup campaigns and was part of the winning Team Alinghi 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Between and after his America’s Cup engagements, Christian was much in demand as a trimmer, and he also enjoyed sailing on smaller boats on the Grand Prix or Match Race circuits. In 2006, along with Peter Gilmour he won the ISAF World Match Racing Championship and finish in 2008 together with Sebastien Col as runner-up for the title.

Christian is also much in demand ashore, as a consultant, event organiser, sailing commentator, keynote speaker and coach. In 2004 he graduated with a Diploma for Sport and Management at the Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur. As event manager Christian ran for many years the St. Moritz Match Race as well as the Volvo Match Race Cup. He is the founder and partner of Bluboats GmbH and since 2007 the sailing expert for Swiss national TV SRF. In the beginning of 2009 Christian became the sailing brand ambassador for Volvo Car Switzerland, a partnership which continues to today.

Since 2015 Christian is the Class Manager of the GC32 foiling catamaran and also managing the GC32 Racing Tour. In 2018 Christian joined the board of directors of the Swiss Sailing Team AG, the company that manages elite and Olympic sailing in Switzerland.

For over 25 years Christian Scherrer has been involved at the highest level in professional sailing, one of only a handful of Swiss to achieve this.

Expertise

Experience from sport, competition and working with people

Sailing

Four America’s Cup campaigns, countless Match Race, Grand Prix and offshore regattas, plus extreme sailing like the Round the World Race, characterise Christian Scherrer’s professional career, notable highlights being winning the America’s Cup and the World Champion title in Match Racing.

Consulting

Through his many years’ involvement in the sailing world, Christian Scherrer has gained a large number of contacts and has a wide experience of many aspects of the sport. He is therefore able to offer assistance in many area in the sport of sailing but also the business world in general.

Management

Event, team and project management is nowadays one of the most important areas of Christian Scherrer’s activity. Events like the Alinghi Swiss Tour and the St. Moritz Match Race made the start, Bluboats GmbH and now the GC32 Class and Racing Tour are managed by Christian Scherrer.

Fast facts

25+

Years experience

50+

Countries visited

275+

Sailing competitions

75+

Key note speeches

Speaking

“What it takes to win” or “Technology meets Teamwork” are the current themes used to explore the links between sport and business and the development of effective teams.

As a team player in an elite sport, Christian Scherrer brings his vast experience to bear in these lectures. Whether it is the America’s Cup or the Round the World Race, good team work is crucial, not only on the water but also between the shore crew and sailors. Between management, technicians, designers and sailors, integration and communication must work perfectly, and these same qualities required to lead a team to success in sailing are transferable to the business world. Christian not only demonstrates how team spirit works, but also gives us a behind the scenes look at the workings of a professional sailing team.

Connect

A number of companies have taken advantage of Christian’s expertise, notably: