Bertrand Cardis (ME'81)

Drawn to sailing at a very early age, in 1981 he took part in the Whitbread race with Pierre Fehlmann while studying for his diploma in Mechanical Engineering at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He then qualified for the 1984 summer Olympic Games with Rainer Fröhlich in the Flying Dutchmann category and finished in 13th place.
When he came back to Switzerland in 1984, he co-created the company Décision SA (construction and realisation of structures in composite materials) within which, in particular, he worked alongside Ernesto Bertarelli to create the Alinghi sailing boat as well as with Bertrand Piccard on the Solar Impulse project.
In January 2009, the State Council of the Vaud canton granted him, together with Frédy Girardet and Philippe Rochat, the “Mérite cantonal vaudois”.