Steven Richard Erickson (born August 14, 1961) is an American

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. While the term ''sailor'' ...

and Olympic champion in the Star class. He competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles and won a gold medal in the

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

together with William Earl Buchan.

Career

Olympic sailing in the Star class

Born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and just finished with studies at

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, Erickson won the gold medal in the Star event at the

. Steve Erickson continued in the Star class and won the

Star World Championship The Star World Championship are international sailing regattas in the Star class organized by the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association and sanctioned by World Sailing. American sailor Lowell North has won the most titles, with fi ...

two times: in 1985 with William Earl Buchan; and, in 1988 with Paul Cayard.

America's Cup and Whitbread Round the World Race

Erickson's first America's Cup was with

Tom Blackaller Thomas David Blackaller Jr. (January 6, 1940 – September 7, 1989) was a world-champion American yachtsman, America's Cup helmsman, sailmaker, and racecar competitor. He was a two-time world champion in the Star class keelboat, a world champi ...

, on the 12 Metre US 61 ''USA R-1'' from San Francisco. He served as the mainsail trimmer during the

1987 America's Cup The 1987 America's Cup was the twenty-sixth challenge for the America's Cup. The American challenger '' Stars & Stripes 87'', sailed by Dennis Conner, beat the Australian defender '' Kookaburra III'', sailed by Iain Murray, in a four-race swe ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. At the

1992 America's Cup The 28th America's Cup was contested between the winner of the 1992 Citizen Cup defender selection series, America³ ''America'' (pronounced "America Cubed") is the name of both a syndicate that vied for the America's Cup in 1992 and 1995 and ...

, Erickson was one of the coaches for the '' Il Moro Challenge''. At the

1995 America's Cup The 29th America's Cup was contested between the winner of the 1995 Citizen Cup, Stars & Stripes (America's Cup syndicate), Team Stars & Stripes, which switched to the yacht Young America (1994 yacht), ''Young America'' (USA 36) for the competit ...

, Erickson was a trimmer on board

Dennis Conner Dennis Walter Conner (born September 16, 1942) is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup. Sailing career Conner was born September ...

Stars & Stripes. Erickson won the 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race as part of the ''

EF Language ''EF Language'' (also known as ''Illbruck'', ''Magnavox 2UE'', ''Nokia 2UE'', ''Nokia'', ''DHL'') is a Volvo Ocean 60 yacht that won the 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race. Career ''EF Language'' was designed by Bruce Farr and built ...

'' crew, before joining

Luna Rossa Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, originally named Prada Challenge, then Luna Rossa Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. It won the Louis Vuitton Cup on its first attempt in 2000, but t ...

as their coach for the

2000 Louis Vuitton Cup The 5th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2000. The winner, Prada Challenge, went on to challenge for the 2000 America's Cup. It was the first time in the competition's history that there would not be an American chall ...

, which they won. He was a member of the boat's afterguard during the

2003 Louis Vuitton Cup The 6th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner, Alinghi, went on to challenge for and win the 2003 America's Cup. Teams The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record. Alinghi Founded by Swiss business ...

, before working as their operations manager at the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2013 Louis Vuitton Cup The 8th Louis Vuitton Cup was held during July and August 2013, in San Francisco, California, United States of America. The three contenders were Artemis Racing (Sweden), Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand), and Luna Rossa Challenge (Italy). ...

s. Erickson also spent time with the 2007

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British sailing (sport), competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at four ...

Team Origin Team Origin was Great Britain's bid to compete in the 33rd and 34th America's Cups. It was launched in January 2007 but stopped running the racing team in 2010. The syndicate was founded by Sir Keith Mills, also known for being the deputy chairm ...

Star class again

Erickson, together Mark Reynolds, tried to qualify for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. In 2009, Erickson won the Star North American Championship in Westport crewing for Andy Horton.

References

External links

* 1961 births Living people American male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Star Olympic gold medalists for the United States in sailing Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Volvo Ocean Race sailors 1995 America's Cup sailors Il Moro Challenge sailors Luna Rossa Challenge sailors 2003 America's Cup sailors Star class world champions World champions in sailing for the United States 1992 America's Cup sailors 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-yachtracing-Olympic-medalist-stub