Paul Elvström - a look at the life and times of sailing's Greatest

by David Henshall on 13 Dec 2016 With a couple of weeks still to go, 2016 has not been a good year for anyone who is normally referred to along with the adjective 'Great'.

The world of music seemed to be disproportionally hit, with Bowie, Glen Frey, Prince and Cohen being just some of the iconic performers who will sing no more. The big screen lost Rickman, the small screen Wogan and sport said goodbye to the man who was known simply as 'The Greatest' when Muhammad Ali died back in June.

In a direct contrast to the wall to wall coverage these sad events received, the death in the first week of December of the greatest small boat sailor that the world has ever seen passed by with scarcely a mention in the mainstream media and even in the yachting press, the response was somewhat muted. In a way this is understandable, as the legend that was Paul Elvström was forged more than two generations ago now and though the sailors of today would recognise the name, the details of just how he fought his way to the top of the sport, then camped there for nearly 40 years have been lost in the noise of the modern media circus.

This narrative has not been helped by the nature of the man himself, for though he would happily indulge in talk about boats, rigs, fittings and racing for hours if need be, there was little in the way of self-promotion. Instead, Paul was content to let his results on the race course define who he was, though in time he would prove that there was so much more to his spread of achievement as he added sailmaking, boatbuilding, design and innovation to his record. Of course, in a lifetime spent competing at events, there are many who will have met Paul in person, though the number that can claim to 'know' him is much smaller, due in part to that private nature of the man. I'm lucky to be able to claim to have met him, though I come firmly in that first category!

The occasion was the 1981 Half Ton Cup, held at Poole on the south coast of the UK. Paul was sailing the immaculately prepared Berret designed King One, and having warmed up for the event by winning La Rochelle Week, was one of the favourites to take the much coveted title. I was sailing for one of the other Nordic countries, in a crew made up mainly of 505 sailing hired guns. My task was to call the start and having decided that the pin end was the place to be, we went for it! Elvström had also decided on a pin end start, but was taken by surprise by the belligerent aggression of our own starting technique and not only did we win the start, but we pushed King One over the line.

Despite having to re-round in order to start, by the end of the race it was Elvström who took the win whilst we were rather mid-fleet. Back in the marina, the two of us came face to face on the finger pontoon; First he noted that I wasn't Swedish (the rest of or crew were) then he gently chided me for the unwarranted venom shown at the start. At the time, I regret to say I was rather arrogant about the whole episode and it was only later that one of Paul's favourite sayings 'if in the process of winning, you have lost the respect of your competitors, you have won nothing' came to mind. As with so many of his sayings, he had that ability to put his finger on the root cause of what was happening!

It was hardly a surprise that Paul Bert Elvström would take to the water, for he was born in February 1928 into a seafaring household that lived in a waterside house just North of Copenhagen. School days were difficult for Paul as it is likely that he suffered from dyslexia at a time when learning difficulties such as this were little understood in children. However, as is so often the case, he enjoyed other strengths and for the young Paul it was a steely competitiveness. Luckily for the sport of sailing Paul also enjoyed nothing more than to be afloat and it would be this synergy of the love of sailing allied to the will to win that would mark him out from his earliest years as something special.

For the rest of this intriguing and interesting story click here