John Kostecki


John Paul Kostecki is an American competitive sailor of Polish descent. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started his sailing career in the San Francisco Bay, California.

Events

World Championships

Kostecki won a number of world champion titles in different sailing classes known titles include:
Title No.RoleBoatBoat NameTitleLocationRef
11982 Sunfish World Champion
21986 Soling Class World Champion
31988 J/24 World Champion
41988 Soling Class World Champion
51989 6 Meter World Cup
61996 Mumm 36 World Champion
71997 Mumm 36 World Champion
81998 Mumm 36 World Champion
91998 Farr 40 World Champion
102008 Farr 40 World Champion
112011 Farr 40 World Champion
12Ngoni2014 Soto 40 World Champion
13Catapult2016 J/70 World Champion
14Illbruck2016 Melges 20 World Champion
15TacticianPlatoon2017 TP52 World Champion

Olympics

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Busan, South Korea, he finished in 2nd place in the Soling class along with his partners William Baylis and Robert Billingham.

Volvo Ocean Race

He also sailed the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1997/1998.
In the 2001–02 Volvo Ocean Race he led Illbruck Challenge that was based in Leverkusen to an overwhelming victory in the arguably toughest sailing race around the world. Of notable interest was the fact that Illbruck set the world 24 hours speed record for monohulls. The record of 484 nautical miles was completed at 20:02 on April 30 during Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race and was confirmed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. This sparked an unprecedented sailing boom in Germany that led to thousands of sailing fans and Illbruck supporters awaiting Kostecki and his crew finishing their last leg from Gothenburg to Kiel.
He did the 2005–06 Volvo Ocean Race with Ericsson. He was also designated skipper for Ericsson’s in the next Race but resigned from his position in August 2007 for family reasons

America's Cup

He sailed with America3 at the 1992 America's Cup.
After a short employment with the BMW Oracle America’s Cup Team in the early 2000s he left for the 2005 VOE.
In 2008, the then three times America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, who had just recently been appointed CEO of Larry Ellison's America’s Cup Team BMW Oracle Racing, hired Kostecki for his afterguard. The next America’s cup match took place between the defender, the Swiss team Alinghi, and BMW Oracle, in Valencia in February 2010. With Kostecki as tactician, the American team won both races against the defender and thus brought back the oldest trophy in sports history to the United States after 15 years.

Other

In 1997, he won the One Design 48 Championship, and the Malaysia Challenge Grand Prix. Kostecki became very popular in Europe as skipper and helmsman of the German yachts all called "Pinta" owned by the Illibruck family.

Awards

In 1988, he was then named United States Rolex Yachtsman of the Year
In 2002, Kostecki was named United States Rolex Yachtsman of the Year for the second time
In 2002 he was shortlisted for the World Sailing - World Sailor of the Year Awards.
2012 US Sailing Hall of Fame Inductee