Europe

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.