Philippe Schiller, Swiss skipper, sails at the highest international level from 1988.
He has traveled the oceans of the Australian continent, New Zealand and Japan during various offshore races. From the Whitbread to foiling moths, to foiling multihulls, he has experienced the finer points of the regatta, the excitement of speed, as much as the harshness of ocean racing and the complexity of experimental projects.
Skipper
11 World Championships
“I feel living with intensity in audacity and surpassing oneself! “
INNOVATION
A precursor
Passionate about innovation, the Geneva skipper co-founded the Pi 28 project in 2009. The aim was to fly a large monohull with foils. The project was particularly ambitious and pioneering. Indeed, the technologies developed then were still in its infancy: only the foil moths, ultra-light sailing dinghies of 32kg, managed this feat. This technological adventure led him to conceive and realize, with engineer Hugues de Turckheim and naval architect Sebastien Schmit, not only an innovative foil structure but also a new concept of thick profile sail (patented). The idea of flying a monohull with foils and a thick sail has made its way, since in 2021, to the next America’s Cup, which will use these techniques.
Innovation, again and always
A few years earlier, he had already worked in this direction by adapting Moth foils on his 18 foot Australian. In flight, this already allowed to reach vertiginous speeds. Currently, he participates, with designer Tristan Trajan, in the development of a new Moth prototype, the “Hummingbird H-13 design”.
“The idea of finding a new solution always made me shiver”
The experience
One world tour and two Whitbread
Reputed to be one of the toughest sports competitions, the Whitbread, currently called “Volvo Ocean Race”, is a crewed race around the world where the world’s best skippers and sailors compete. Philippe Schiller participated in the fifth edition of Maxi 80 ‘Merit, Pierre Fehlmann’s boat, in 1989. The team followed the two New Zealand Ketchi Maxis and won a magnificent third place out of twenty-three participants. This world tour was marked by the capsizing of Martela near Cape Horn. He is back on the Whitbread in 1993, this time on Hetman Sahaidachny, the Ukrainian team.
A rich journey
Since his first world championships at the age of 15, Philippe Schiller has sailed on a large number of different boats. He lived his first world championships at the age of fifteen. He has participated in seven sailing tours of France, two Whitbread, a Sydney-Hobart, a transpacific, sixteen seasons on the 18’ Australians with a title of World Cup winner and no less than eleven participations in world championships, of which seven in Moth foil.
Risk-taking is a source of discovery, step-by-step it shapes our experience!
Action
Photographer
One world tour and two Whitbread
Seizing the moment, at the heart of the competition
Reputed to be one of the toughest sports competitions, the Whitbread, currently called “Volvo Ocean Race”, is a crewed race around the world where the world’s best skippers and sailors compete. Philippe Schiller participated in the fifth edition of Maxi 80 ‘Merit, Pierre Fehlmann’s boat, in 1989. The team followed the two New Zealand Ketchi Maxis and won a magnificent third place out of twenty-three participants. This world tour was marked by the capsizing of Martela near Cape Horn. He is back on the Whitbread in 1993, this time on Hetman Sahaidachny, the Ukrainian team.
Seizing the moment, at the heart of the competition
In the years that followed, pronounced reliefs and unprecedented material effects that generated intense emotions affirmed his artistic style. This treatment of the image, associated with a clear will to discover what the eye does not see, gives to its photographs an original depth.
Born: March 20, 1966
in Geneva
Astrology: Pisces
Chinese astrology: Fire Horse
Spanish astrology: Tapas
Weight: 82 kg
Size: 1.92 m
Eyes: Brown
Hair: In the wind
Nationality: Swiss
Family situation: Married, 3 children
Profession: Skipper and Photographer
License: Geneva Nautical Club
Training site: Palma de Mallorca
Interests: Aesthetics
Quality # 1: Epicurean
Defect # 1: Epicurean too
Wine: Belleruche, Côtes du Rhône
Like: Drink his wine in a glass
Sport: Sailing, High Mountains, Kyte surf
Hobby: Take the time to live
