Athletes - Paul Cayard

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	Athletes - Paul Cayard

Paul Pierre Cayard (born May 19, 1959) is a American yachtsman who has participated in a broad range of world championship level sailing events including the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympic Games. In 1998 he was selected as the Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year. He was elected into the Sailing World Hall of Fame in 2002. In total, he has won world championships seven times, participated in the America's Cup five times, and the Olympic Games.

Early life

Cayard was born on May 19, 1959 in San Francisco. He graduated with a degree in business management from San Francisco State University in 1981. He married Ulrika Kristina Petterson.

Sailing career

Cayard first sailing experience was at the age of eight in 1967 on Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. As he progressed, he moved into high performance dinghies such as the International 505. As Cayard grew and became more proficient in sailing, he gained Tom Blackaller as an influential mentor who introduced him to the Star class. The Star class would become a life long passion for Cayard.

In 1984 Cayard was selected as an alternate for the USA sailing team. In 2003 he won a silver medal in the pre-Olympic regatta in the Star class. In 2004 he finished 5th in the Star class at the Olympic Games in Athens.

Cayard has competed in a broad range of ocean racing events with an impressive record. He has won the 1994 Kenwood Cup, the 1994 and 1996 Sardinia Cup, and the 1995 Admirals Cup. His top achievement in this arena was winning the 1997/1998 Whitbread Round the World race as skipper of EF Language. He beat out 60 other yachts for the prize over a course of 32,000 miles (51,500 km). This was remarkable as it was his first ever Whitbread and he also became the first ever American to win the event.

As of 2006, Cayard is competing in the Volvo Ocean Race as skipper of Pirates of the Caribbean syndicate sponsored by The Walt Disney Company in reference to the movie of the same name. Cayard Sailing, Inc. is managing the syndicate.

America's Cup

Cayard's first America's Cup was in 1983 aboard Blackaller's Defender as a sail trimmer. Defender finished third in the defender selection series. For the 1987 America's Cup series, Cayard moved up to tactician and alternate helmsman on Blackaller's new boat USA, which lost out to Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes for the right to challenge for the cup.

For the 1992 America's Cup, Cayard became manager and skipper of Il Moro de Venencia from Italy, a syndicate backed by Raul Gardini. In 1991, he won the first ever International America's Cup Class world championship. Over the months long challenger selection series, Cayard's team beat out seven other teams from six other countries to win the Louis Vuitton Cup and gain the right to challenge for the America's Cup. Part of the challenge included protest room theatre as Cayard successfully protested the employment of a bowsprit on the New Zealand challenge.

Though Il Moro de Venencia was outclassed in the America's Cup races by the faster America³, Cayard's expertise in sailing provided some memorable moments. In the second race of the series, Il Moro de Venencia won the start and maintained a small lead for the entire race. Il Moro de Venencia employed classic match racing tactics throughout the race, and at the downwind finish managed to beat America³ by three seconds, producing the smallest winning margin in cup history. Cayard and Il Moro de Venencia went on to lose this series 4-1.

In 1995 rejoined an American effort for the cup, joining Team Dennis Conner aboard Stars & Stripes as primary helmsman. Though Stars & Stripes was noticeably slower than other boats on the defender series, the syndicate managed to win the Citizens Cup for the right to defend the cup. In an unprecedented move, Team Dennis Conner decided to use the faster yacht Young America from the PACT 95 syndicate to defend the cup. Cayard and this syndicate ended up losing the cup 5-0 to Team New Zealand, which had won the Louis Vuitton Cup.

With the change in venue and hemisphere for the cup, the next America's Cup was not held until 2000. For this iteration of the America's Cup, Cayard formed his own syndicate with backing from a number of sponsors and named it AmericaOne. The sponsoring yacht clud was St. Francis Yacht Club of San Francisco. This syndicate faced off with 14 challengers from 10 nations for the right to challenge for the cup. AmericaOne reached the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup facing off against Prada for the right to challenge against Team New Zealand for the America's Cup. The final over the best of nine races was hotly contested, with neither yacht ever winning by more than two minutes. Prada won the first race, and AmericaOne the second. Prada went on to win the next two races, putting AmericaOne at a 3-1 disadvantage. AmericaOne then proceeded to win the next three races and appeared on the brink of winning the Louis Vuitton cup. However, Prada won the next two races and gained the right to challenge for the cup, ultimatley losing 5-0 to Team New Zealand.

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