SHORT FACTS

Age: 29
Lives: Wherever his job takes him. Now, Stockholm, Sweden.
Born: Florianopolis, Brazil (1200 km south of Rio)
Nationality: Brazilian/Italian
Hobbies: Sailing, snowboarding, surfing and rugby 

Biography

Gustavo Bayer hails from Florianopolis, an island in southern Brazil. But he’s spent nearly half his life away from home as he builds, designs and sails racing yachts. Changes in environment are his constant.

A typical day is spent swapping between two places: one is the carpeted and relatively quiet team office for Ericsson Racing Team, where he’s outfitted most often in a blue Ericsson Racing Team shirt and work pants. At some point during the day, he dons a white jumpsuit and goes into an enclosed room where the dust and carbon scraps fly.

“I started here last May as a boat builder but was trained on the CNC machine, so now I’m in charge of cutting molds, carbon parts, and everything that can be done by that machine,” he explains.

CNC stands for computer numerical control, and it’s a machine that reads code in order to operate a cutting tool. That means Gustavo is at a desktop computer part of the day, programming. Sometimes he designs molds that will be used in the process of building boat parts. Then he moves to the cutting room and makes the molds or the actual parts.

“It’s a challenging job and a completely new area for me, because I never used a machine like that before,” he says enthusiastically.

In past projects, he says that skill was usually outsourced. “Having a machine like that helps us build a more precise and accurate boat,” he says.

A love of sailing led him to become a naval architect, but he ruefully admits to finding out there’s not always time for his first passion. “You have to dedicate fully to building projects, which are very time consuming. Basically I only sail when I’m not working.”

On the road to becoming a naval architect, Gustavo studied in Argentina and obtained his degree there. He has built and designed boats in Brazil, Portugal, England, Spain, and now Sweden. “It’s hard for me to say I have a favorite country or a favorite place, because I believe that when I’m in this place, this is the best place to be at that moment. I like traveling and moving around. It gives me a better vision of what the world is, and it’s a good way to make my life,” he says.

And it helps him find new hobbies. Living in Northern Europe has led him to discover snowboarding. “That’s something new in my life and I’m enjoying that a lot,” he says with a smile, but nothing will replace sailing as his first love.

“Ten years from now I really wish to be inside a cruising boat going around the world. That’s the main reason everything started – why I went to become a naval architect – I really would love to be sailing in ten years’ time,” he says.

PAST PROJECTS

Brazil 1, VOR 2005-2006
Carbon composites in Spain: TP's 52 King Marine 2007
From 2002 to 2005, Associate Partner at Carabelli Design & Engineering - took part in several sail yacht projects ranging from 20 to 80 feet LOA.