Paul Cayard: the American sailor who made Italy dream.

The second sailor to win the 1993 Sailor of the Year award is also the only one who is not Italian. We are talking about the great Paul Cayard, born in San Francisco on May 19, 1959. Sailing’s most famous (and beloved) “mustache” made Italy dream in 1992 when he took Raul Gardini’s Moro di Venezia to the America’s Cup final against the Americans in San Diego by winning the Louis Vuitton Cup.

An absolute star player (he won the World Cup in ’88 along with Steve Erickson), he triumphed with the Italian team in the ’95 Admiral’s Cup and the ’97 Whitbread (now known as the Volvo Ocean Race) at the helm of Sweden’s EF Language. What about today? He has shaved off his legendary mustache, is always hanging out on the race courses, is constantly questioning himself on the Star, and has been is in charge of the Swedish Artemis team as part of the 34th America’s Cup. Here is our last interview, when we “caught” him last year on the J/70s in Riva del Garda.

BECAUSE WE HAD REWARDED HIM

Taken from The Journal of Sailing, March 1993: “To stay with the last two years: in ’91 the AICC world title with Moro 3 and the 50-footer title with Abracadabra. In ’92 the Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup final against America 3 and then, third place at the Star world championship, a title he had won in 1990.”

WHAT WE HAD WRITTEN

Excerpted from The Journal of Sailing, March 1993:
“Paul Cayard, the 1993 Sailor of the Year goes through an intense period, full of stimulation, but also of thoughts. It is the period of choices after the binge of success and popularity following the conquest of the Louis Vuitton Cup. In these weeks the next seasons are decided, the 1995 America’s Cup is as of now already very close and the first strategic choices must be made now.”

“The economic crisis is a worldwide fact that excludes no one. But paradoxically in the America’s Cup, the price of this crisis affects more developed nations like Italy and France than other, seemingly weaker nations like New Zealand and Australia. The reason is simple,” explains Paul Cayard, “the latter two nations have such traditions in sailing that they are practically self-sufficient. In other words, they can set up complete and excellent organizations, from manpower to technology, without going outside their own borders, thus managing to drastically contain budgets. I want to say that these two nations, not coincidentally the absolute stars of the last decade of the America’s Cup, can face a challenge at the San Diego YC with $100 15 million even being able to hope for a good, if not great, result. The same cannot be said for Italy and France, which are much more dependent on ‘foreign countries.”

After all, Paul Cayard does not rule out his own personal future not only without an America’s Cup, but even without sailing. Listen to this: “When I majored in economics in California, I had given myself a kind of deadline. That is, if I had not been able to make a living from sports within 18 months I would have used my degree. Now many years have passed and I have no regrets whatsoever, but that doesn’t mean that if the world economic situation deteriorates to such an extent that it stops the development of the sport of sailing I might consider that scenario again. I have already thought about it, there is a master’s degree in economics from Harvard that is just right for me.”

On an emotional level, it is hard to imagine Cayard orphaning Gardini. “In my life I had met two people who were fundamental to my growth, Raul Gardini and Tom Blackaller (America’s Cup skipper and Star class world champion, who passed away in 1988, ed.). Tom ‘I met him that I was a boy and he taught me how to live, how to use my intelligence and dialectic. I owe him a great deal. Gardini, on the other hand, taught me to be more thoughtful and forward-looking. He has the ability to envision events well in advance before they happen, and that is a key quality not only in entrepreneurship, but also in life.” This is the current situation of the 1993 Sailor of the Year. With plenty of meat in the fire, we will see him busy in Star on the 50-foot Capricorn, on Brava Q8 and hopefully already training for the America’s Cup.”

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE SAILOR OF THE YEAR ROLL HERE