Paul Cayard

Paul Pierre Cayard (born May 19, 1959) is an American yachtsman and professional sailor.

He has competed at multiple world championship level sailing events, including the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympic Games.

He began sailing in 1967, at the age of eight.

He graduated in 1981, with a degree in Business Management from San Francisco State University.

He speaks three languages: English, French and Italian.

He enjoys flying and holds a pilots certification with instrument rating for both single and multi engine aircraft.

Cayard's first America's Cup was in 1983 aboard Tom Blackaller's Defender as a jib trimmer.

Defender finished third in the defender selection series.

In 1984, Cayard was selected as an alternate in the Olympic Games for the USA sailing team.

Cayard was married to Ulrika Petterson: m.1985-div.2010 and they have two children.

Ulrika is the daughter of Pelle Petterson.

From an early age Cayard showed great promise as a sailor and by his early teens was successfully sailing high performance dinghies such as the International 505 and Laser.

As Cayard grew and became more proficient in sailing, he gained the notice of Tom Blackaller who invited Cayard to crew for him on his Star class sailboat.

Blackaller would become an influential mentor and the Star Class would become a lifelong passion for Cayard.

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.

Of all his sailing accomplishments, he counts his 1988 Star Class World Championship as his most prized victory.

Cayard's tenure as executive director of the US Olympic Sailing Team came to an end in February 2023.

In 1991, he won the first ever International America's Cup Class world championship.

For the 1992 America's Cup, Cayard was manager and skipper of Il Moro di Venezia from Italy, a syndicate backed by Raul Gardini.

Over the months long challenger selection series, Cayard's team beat out seven other teams from six other countries to win the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup and gain the right to challenge for the America's Cup.

Part of the challenge included protests where Cayard successfully protested the employment of a bowsprit on the New Zealand challenge.

He won the 1994 Kenwood Cup, the 1994 and 1996 Sardinia Cup and the 1995 Admirals Cup.

His top achievement in this arena was becoming the first American to win the Whitbread Round the World in 1997-1998 as skipper of EF Language.

He beat out ten other yachts for the prize over a course of 32,000 miles (51,500 km).

In 1998 he was selected as the US Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year.

He has won seven world championships, twice participated in the Olympic Games and seven times in the America's Cup.

Sailing in the Star Class, he won the silver medal at the pre-Olympic regatta in 2003, going on to finish 5th at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.

Cayard has competed in a broad range of ocean racing events with an impressive record.

In 2005–2006, Cayard competed in the Volvo Ocean Race as skipper of the Pirates of the Caribbean syndicate sponsored by The Walt Disney Company in reference to the movie of the same name.

Cayard Sailing Inc. managed the team which won the final leg into Gothenburg to finish the overall race in 2nd place.

In 2007, Paul Cayard and Russell Coutts announced the launch of the World Sailing League in partnership with internationally renowned Portuguese sports promoter, João Lagos.

The World Sailing League (WSL) was to have been held at premier sailing locations around the world with the series winner receiving $2 million in prize money.

In 2009, Cayard joined Artemis Racing owned by Torbjörn Törnqvist.

Cayard was the Skipper of the Louis Vuitton Trophy team and Tactician onboard TP52 Artemis (www.artemisracing.com).

Artemis Racing became the Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup in 2010 and Cayard was CEO.

In 2011 he was elected into the US Sailing Hall of Fame.

Paul Cayard was born in San Francisco, California.

From 2019 to 2020, he served as chairman of the board for St. Francis Yacht Club.

He is an ambassador for Rolex, the One Ocean Foundation and Vice President of the International Star Class.

Cayard is a member of four international yacht clubs; St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco Yacht Club, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Yacht Club de Monaco.