The legendary Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom sadly passed away on 7 December at the age of 88 in Hellerup, Denmark, surrounded by his family.
At some point each one of us Salty Sea types would have picked up at least one of his books.
We learned a lot, we got wet.
RIP Paul.
Bugger.
I sailed with him a couple of times in the early 70s. A top bloke and I'm sure every dingy racer had a copy of this:
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A true sailing legend in my view. Perhaps the first to approach sailing in a profssional way. Not for money, but in his desire and will to win. Always a good competitor too.
I read the 2 books I have that he's written, more than any other of my sailing books.
A great loss to sailing and sport in general.
What a legend in sailing.
I grew up reading a couple of books.
Rip
Absolute legend in the sport. This quote is his best known and one that has always resonated with me and many others
You haven't won the race, if in winning the race you have lost the respect of your competitors
@eddie you are a fortunate man to have done so
A great man. The quote I remember is from when he was asked how he'd won a race early in his career:
The others, they were too slowly
Plus accidentally "inventing" weight jackets, by falling in on a cold winter day wearing multiple woollen sweaters. RIP.
Four Olympic golds including one in Torquay in a Firwly when they sailed them as single handers.
great man and sailing oracle ...
I used to sail a Firefly single handed - I was pretty damned good in it as well ....