Nicolas Rossier, The Balance of Elements
Boat Captain of ZEN Too
Some people are born with salt in their veins. Nicolas wasn’t one of them. As a child, even walking on docks made him uneasy. The world of water intimidated him; he was afraid of it—until one day, at the age of seven, a metal fishing boat changed everything.
“How can something made of metal float? That’s not normal…” he wondered. The question sparked something in him. Fear gave way to fascination, and curiosity began to chart its course. Without realizing it, a path had opened before him. At nine, his father signed him up—without asking—for the Founex Yacht Club. Nicolas didn’t have the heart to say no. Despite his fear of sinking, despite his nerves, he went. First to please his father. Then, out of determination. And eventually, out of love for the sport.
Nicolas was never someone you’d picture spending eight hours a day behind a desk. School? He did well enough, but he wanted something else—something tangible. He needed to learn with his hands, to shape materials. After an internship at Luthi, everything clicked: a vocational diploma in boatbuilding, then a general diploma, and an ever-growing desire to stay close to the water. Naturally curious, Nicolas tried studying at EPFL, still haunted by that original question about flotation. But the experience confirmed what he already suspected: math didn’t speak to him—but boats did.
Gradually, he shifted from building boats to racing them. In 2004, he entered the D35 circuit and joined the Alinghi team. Two exhilarating years of preparing boats and sailing. But soon, that role wasn’t enough. He wanted more. In 2006, he and a group of boat preparers launched a new service for skippers. That’s how SUI 46°16’ was born—his own technical and logistical boat management company. A turning point. He could now offer end-to-end support for sailing projects. A way to stay close to the action while mastering the tools, methods, and innovations behind it.
Today, Nicolas is the boat captain for Team ZEN Too. He doesn’t helm the boat—but he’s in charge of everything that makes it run. He manages logistics, anticipates technical issues, oversees operations. He likes being on dock at dawn—often before anyone else—to quietly take the pulse of the TF35 before the chaos of competition sets in. For Nicolas, the key to success in a project like this isn’t just mechanics. It’s human connection. Because beyond the technical side, it’s the team bonds—the shared drive—that give his work real meaning.
“Team sport is like chemistry,” he says. “You have to know how to harness each person’s strengths, sometimes even transform moods into productive energy. It’s about finding balance, becoming one unit, staying connected and passionate, in order to perform.”
He loves that alchemy—even when it doesn’t lead to victory. Because failure, too, teaches you something. It moves you forward.
What drives him? Progress. The evolution of projects, of ideas.“I love it when things are moving, when they’re evolving,” he tells us.
But in his personal life, Nicolas seeks something else: calm, simplicity, fewer responsibilities. A quiet refuge he sometimes finds in the mountains, or aboard a boat with his family.
His fondest memory? A regatta on Lake Geneva: perfect conditions, a boat that felt effortless, a well-earned victory. And most of all, that rare feeling of being exactly where he belongs—at the heart of a suspended moment in time.
Nicolas is a builder—of boats, of systems, of teams, of serenity. He embodies a delicate balance between technical precision and human intuition. And through ZEN Too and SUI 46°16’, he continues his quest for what moves us forward—for what remains to be invented.
