Pelle Helmer Petterson (born 31 July 1932) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and yacht designer. He is the son of Helmer Petterson and Norwegian-born Borgny Petterson (born Holm), and studied design at the leading

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

in New York from 1955 through 1957. He is probably best known for designing the Maxi brand of sailing boats, which are still among the most common sailing boats in Swedish waters. He also designed

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

's successful sports car, the P1800, while he was a student of

Pietro Frua Pietro Frua (2 May 1913 - 28 June 1983) was one of the leading Italian coachbuilders and car designers during the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Frua was born in Turin, the centre of coachbuilding in northern Italy. He was the fourth son of Angela, ...

Petterson has three children. There is a line of sailing clothing and sports wear bearing the name Petterson, under the Brand Name ''Pelle P.'' which are designed by his daughter, Cecilia. His other daughter, Ulrika "Icka", lives in the U.S. and is married to

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 Rac ...

, an American yachtsman and professional sailor.

Olympic medals and other yacht racing awards

He won Olympic medals (bronze and silver) for

Starboat The Star is a one-design racing keelboat for two people designed by Francis Sweisguth in 1910. The Star was an Olympic keelboat class from 1932 through to 2012, the last year keelboats appeared at the Summer Olympics. It is sloop-rigged, with ...

racing in 1964 and 1972. He won the World Championship title in the Star class at the 1969 Worlds in San Diego, USA. He also won World Cup medals in the Soling Class and participated in the America's Cup several times, skippering the Swedish

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

Challenges in 1977 and 1980.

Awards

14 May 2004 he received the Swedish Business Award for Outstanding Achievements of the first grade from the West Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Amongst previous recipients are

Arvid Carlsson Arvid Carlsson (25 January 1923 – 29 June 2018) was a Swedish neuropharmacologist who is best known for his work with the neurotransmitter dopamine and its effects in Parkinson's disease. For his work on dopamine, Carlsson was awarded the Nobe ...

Nobel laureate,

Ingvar Kamprad Feodor Ingvar Kamprad (; 30 March 1926 – 27 January 2018) was a Swedish billionaire best known for founding IKEA, a multinational retail company specialising in furniture. He lived in Switzerland from 1976 to 2014. Early life and family ...

founder of Ikea and

Pehr G. Gyllenhammar Pehr Gustaf Gyllenhammar (born 28 April 1935) is a Swedish businessman. He is mainly known for his 24 years as CEO and chairman of Volvo, between 1970 and 1994. In the early 1980s he took the initiative for the European Round Table of Industriali ...

former CEO of Volvo. 19 November 2004 he received a prestigious award (''KTH's Stora Pris'') from the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. 8 June 2010 he received from H.M the King

Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973. He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, D ...

the King's Medal (12th size bright-blue ribbon) for outstanding contributions as a yachtsman and boat designer.

Achievements

References

External links

pellepetterson.se
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petterson, Pelle 1932 births Living people Swedish male sailors (sport) Olympic sailors of Sweden Sailors at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Star Sailors at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Dragon Sailors at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Sailors at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Star Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Swedish automobile designers America's Cup yacht designers Swedish yacht designers Olympic medalists in sailing Star class world champions 6 Metre class sailors Volvo Ocean Race sailors Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics 1980 America's Cup sailors 1977 America's Cup sailors World champions in sailing for Sweden Swedish people of Norwegian descent Sportspeople from Stockholm

Olympic medals and other yacht racing awards

Awards

Achievements

See also

References

External links