Paul Cayard - Sailing Career

Sailing Career

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.

In 1984 Cayard was selected as an alternate in the Olympic Games for the USA sailing team. 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. 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 becoming the first American to win the Whitbread Round the World in 1997/1998 as skipper of EF Language. He beat out 10 other yachts for the prize over a course of 32,000 miles (51,500 km).

As of 2006, Cayard competed 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. managed the syndicate. The team finished 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) will be held at premier sailing locations around the world with the series winner receiving a cheque for $2 million. Twelve teams, representing nations, will compete in identical, state-of-the-art 70 ft catamarans. It is anticipated that there will be venues in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North America and South America. Cayard and Coutts are both committed to skipper teams in the league.

In 2009, Cayard joined the Artemis Racing, owned by Torbjorn Tornqvist. Cayard is the Skipper of the Louis Vuitton Trophy team and Tactician onboard TP52 ARTEMIS (www.artemisracing.com). Artemis Racing became the Challenger of Record in the 34th America's Cup in 2010 and Cayard became CEO.

Cayard is also the Chairman of the World Sailing Teams Association, the promoters of the Louis Vuitton Trophy regattas.