Meet the Team
Rapide is a partnership formed in 2023 between Spike Abram and Chris Gaenzle. With Spike’s proven sales record and Chris’s corporate and deal experience, the team provides independent, trusted, client-centric representation. The company is well-capitalized and will support a global base of clients and yachts.
Spike Abram
Partner & Broker Newport, Rhode Island
Spike is a prominent figure in the high-performance yacht brokerage business. He has worked in almost all facets of the yachting world and has two decades of experience working with owners and crew of pedigree yachts. He has specifically been at the nexus of performance cruising multihulls for over half of that time. Spike is highly regarded in the yachting community for the integrity and commitment he brings to every client relationship.
Spike served as the global Brokerage and Sales Manager for Gunboat from 2019 to 2023. He built and managed Gunboat’s brokerage division as a leading central agency, closing on pre-owned Gunboat sales totaling more than $35M and supporting new-build sales exceeding $95M. He has a proven track record of completing complex transactions while providing balanced, client-centric advice.
Spike has extensive on-the-water experience and knowledge from thousands of sea miles as both a professional competitor and licensed captain. He has been involved with monohull race boats in Europe and Australia, super yachts in the Pacific, and served as Captain of Gunboat 62 Tribe for eight years, which pushed the boundaries of performance cruising multihull sailing. Spike’s advisory roles have included multihull yacht management and independent new build owner’s representation, including the first two Gunboat 68s.
Chris Gaenzle
Partner & Broker Florida
Chris is an accomplished corporate executive and passionate yachtsman who brings three decades of transactional, strategic planning, and management experience to the Group. He previously served as Assistant General Counsel at Pfizer and as a General Counsel at two public companies.
Chris brings a fresh perspective to an industry that often relies on traditional practices. He is an experienced dealmaker and has led several teams through the complexities of IPOs, recaps, and public company mergers and acquisitions. He has served as a mentor and trusted advisor in many settings, and is known for an easy-going but get-it-done work ethic.
Chris has been sailing and boating his entire life. He currently owns a Little Harbor 54 based in Maine and has cruised extensively in New England, Chesapeake Bay and the Caribbean. As a young adult, he served as Captain and Director of Sail Caribbean Voyages, a teen sailing program that cruised the Leeward Islands and BVIs. Chris grew up racing dinghies and small keelboats in the Great Lakes, completed a transatlantic, and has skippered and crewed on performance monohulls and multihulls both coastal and offshore.